


The Unbreakable Harvey Specter

by AngularNotions



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-19
Updated: 2012-10-19
Packaged: 2017-11-16 14:44:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 13
Words: 34,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/540589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngularNotions/pseuds/AngularNotions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A former client takes revenge on Harvey for a deal gone bad. Mike is there to help pick up the pieces and they find happiness in each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The clock was pushing 3am the last he looked at it. Harvey yawned widely and stretched his back in an arch. He was in the office far later than usual, attempting to be ready for the Wilson deposition the next day. An account worth multiple millions, he wanted to be sure he was well prepared.

Mike had left several hours earlier, after Harvey insisted he go home and sleep. The kid had been killing himself all week on collecting research for Harvey and looked like he was about to collapse.

Harvey smiled softly and chewed thoughtfully on the end of his pen as he remembered Mike's perky ass as he left the room.

Mike thought that Harvey had hired him based on his amazing mind and useful memory and not to mention the fact that he had the balls to even try to pull off their little deceit. And much of this was true, but Harvey knew damn right well that he really had hired Mike because the first time he saw him, he immediately had a vision of them fucking on his desk in his office with the beautiful view. Mike knew nothing of this of course, Harvey had found it difficult to even broach the subject. This was unusual for Harvey, having been able to get any conquest he wanted most of his life, the fact that this one made him nervous also made him very curious. The game was particularly delicious.

Harvey started from his thoughts of Mike when a blast of air hit his face and he realized his office door had been opened. When he looked up he expected to see some sort of housekeeping or hell, even Mike coming back feeling guilty about leaving Harvey to do all of the work, when really Mike had already done the lion's share. What Harvey didn't expect to see was the steel blue eyes and full lips of Marvin Seller. An icy chill ran down Harvey's back at the expression in those eyes and he began to consider how he could alert security as soon as possible.

"Hello Harvey, do you remember me?" said Seller in his brusk Russian accent, as he neatly positioned himself in one of Harvey's guest chairs.

Of course Harvey remembered him, the case had been an interesting one and he considered it a win, though one he couldn't celebrate too much because of it's delicate nature. Several big CEO's had come to him on the sly to help them deal with a rather sensitive issue. It seemed they had gotten themselves involved with a male prostitution ring and the boss of this particular ring was threatening to out them unless they paid up. Harvey had brokered the deal with the CEO's and the Boss, one Marvin Seller, while secretly contacting immigration to have Seller thrown out of the country before a dime passed hands.

"Of course I do Mr. Seller, what brings you here?" Outwardly Harvey was his usual calm, cool and collected self, polite but slightly impatient with the intrusion. Inwardly he was very nervous, Seller was ruthless and frequently murderous as well. Harvey couldn't help but wonder just how in the hell he got back into the country.

"Payback Mr. Specter, payback of my choosing for what you did to me."

The chill in Harvey's spine spread to his legs, which began to twitch involuntarily with the pressing need to run.

Harvey wasn't sure just what the punishment would be but several very painful ideas ran through his mind in quick sequence.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement out in the hall by his office and felt a pang of relief that security were already there. This was short lived when the extra intruders showed themselves and he realized they were two of Seller's goons.

"You fucked me over Harvey, I trusted you when you told me a deal could be made, and you fucked me over."

The goons had made their way around either side of Harvey's desk and were now situated at each of his shoulders.

"I never made you any promises, you know that, it was just business."

Harvey's coolness was quickly diminishing and his palms were now sweating.

Seller narrowed his eyes at him, and gave a short snide laugh.

"Just business, well I guess you are a lawyer, and fucking people over is just business for your kind, but maybe it's time one of you learned that there are certain people you shouldn't fuck with, or they will fuck you up even worse."

Harvey began to realize that the look in Seller's eyes was not one of murder, but one of lust. A quick glance at each of the goons confirmed that this was a shared view.

"How do you intend to fuck me over?"

Harvey had meant the question to sound more confident and unassuming but the quiver in his voice gave away that he already had an idea what the answer was.

Seller laughed a deep, throaty chuckle and with a quick nod of his chin, Harvey felt himself being lifted out of his chair by his elbows. They dragged him around the desk to come face to face with Seller.

Harvey swallowed hard as the fear rose up his throat. Seller licked his lips as he regarded his prey. Another quick nod and Harvey felt his jacket come off his body quite violently.

"You want to know how I'm going to fuck you over Harvey?"

Harvey swallowed again

"I'm going to do just that, fuck you"

Hearing the confirmation of Seller's intentions, Harvey immediately started thrashing, hoping that he could get away to at least the elevators or stairs, or hell, even Donna's desk so he could try to alert security. It quickly occurred to him that security wouldn't have let these beasts pass by in the first place, and a streak of cold fear hit him anew as he realized that the security guard he made congenial daily banter with was likely dead, or almost dead. This thought caused him to thrash even more wildly, verging on animalistic until he heard a sharp click and felt something cold against his shoulder, and then sharp stinging pain. He saw the red gash on his shoulder before he saw the blade, and in the split second when he stopped fighting the knife was quickly moved to his throat.

"Stop fighting Harvey, you have no where to run and no one to come rescue you, it's about time you accepted your punishment."

Another sharp click and the other goon produced a similar knife, which he began using to efficiently cut the rest of Harvey's clothes free from his body.

When he was finally naked, Seller stood back regarding him unabashedly, taking all of him in. Harvey stood shaking with shame and fear and any slight move on his part seemed to make the knife push harder into his throat.

In one swift move the goon without the knife to his throat, cleared Harvey's desk of his computer and papers, and then he was quickly shoved onto his back on the desk. He faintly heard a belt buckle being moved and the rip of a zipper and felt strong hands holding his knees apart. Harvey began to silently hope he could just black out at that moment, knowing full well that he was meant to feel every moment of this as Seller would make sure of it.

He heard the click of a small bottle and then Seller was standing before him, erection at the ready and a self-satisfied glint in his eyes.

"I'm going to enjoy this Harvey, I hope you will too" and then with a dark laugh he forced himself into Harvey, taking no time to prepare him and the pain ripped through him like a knife.

Harvey was aware that he was screaming for a time, he was also perpetually aware of the knife against his throat, which changed hands a few times as they each took several turns between his legs. He was always aware of the feeling of them inside of him, it was a constant that prevented him from trying to pretend he was somewhere else. The pain of each thrust etching itself on his memory. Their hands traveled his body, exploring him unabashedly and he could smell their sweat. The room started the spin after the second round and he hoped that he might get his wish to pass out. He had finally stopped screaming, because his mouth and throat were so dry he just couldn't anymore. He didn't know when it would end, but suddenly it did stop.

Seller leaned over him, breathing hard with sweat on his forehead, and smiled at him with a new kind of satisfaction.

"Good boy Harvey, a job well done."

Harvey wanted so much to cry and scream more, but forced himself to regain some calm outwardly, swallowing in vain to moisten his throat, enough to ask "are we even now?"

Seller's smile grew wider

"Not even close"

The room spun even more and then it all went black

* * *

Harvey awoke a short time later, and as he regained awareness of himself, where he was and worst of all, what had happened, he slid to the floor and stared at the carpet. He was aware of the pain throughout his body, mostly on his inner thighs and delicate areas. He looked at his thigh and could see the bruises forming already along with a trail of dried blood that had run down from his ass. He wondered how long he had been unconscious.

He was grateful to see that he was alone but being alone also held it's own terror.

The overwhelming need to get out of the office enveloped him and he started scrambling around for his clothes and found that none of them were remotely wearable anymore, thanks to the knife. He crawled to a small bureau by Donna's desk to retrieve some workout clothes he kept at the office should the time come up when he might need them. He figured that now was as good a time as any and dressed as quickly as the pain and his shaking hands would let him.

His first attempt to stand was a failure and he fell roughly onto his side. Panting from the pain he gripped the side of a chair and pulled himself up a second time, and finding more success at remaining upright he began to walk towards the door.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see the state his office was in and the horrifying thought of someone finding it like this hit him. He didn't want anyone to know what had happened, his shame hit him like a ton of bricks and he quickly began to gather the remnants of his clothes, stuffing them into the garbage and then using tissues wiped up the blood and semen from the desk and the floor. He started to pick up the papers but realized that the sun was starting to come up. Grabbing the garbage bag he decided that he would have to leave the rest of the office and feign that he had been robbed. If there was no evidence of the rape, which he quickly made sure there wasn't after his cleanup, then he hoped robbery would be plausible enough.

Carrying the garbage bag he made his way to the elevators. Hoping that no one would come to the office this early he pushed the button. He knew he couldn't make it down the stairs. When the doors opened and the elevator proved empty he sighed softly in relief.

On the ride down he again remembered the security guard, he wasn't sure what he was going to walk into in the lobby, and wasn't sure he could handle it but had no choice.

Stepping tentatively out of the elevator, what he could see of the lobby seemed to be completely normal. Walking quietly he approached the security desk and discovered it empty.

Hoping with all hope that the guard was simply out doing a check he moved as quickly as he could to the door, the desperation to get away from that building all the more intense.

After dumping the garbage bag of clothes into the bin behind the restaurant next door he began walking home since he hadn't been able to find his wallet, he couldn't get a cab. He made it about two blocks before he bent over and was violently sick on the sidewalk. Ignoring the nearby comments of a homeless man and feeling the dizziness quickly returning he began to look feverishly for a cab. He wasn't sure how he was going to pay for it, but he knew he couldn't walk.

As he slid gingerly into the back of the cab, he noticed the cab driver looking at him with clear alarm on his face. Harvey wondered just how bad he looked, and tried to remember if they had hit his face at all. He didn't think so, as they wouldn't want to leave openly visible marks. But he figured he was still one hell of a sight nonetheless.

"please, I just need to go home"

The cabby blinked and sighed, "where to?"

Suddenly he wasn't sure. Fear gripped him that they may be waiting for him at his apartment, and he wasn't sure where he wanted to go.

And then he realized he was speaking and giving the cabby an address that sounded familiar.

As they rode on he tried to remember where he knew the address from until they pulled up in front of the pale unassuming building and he realized where he was.

Mike's place.

He suddenly realized that there was no where else he would rather be, he longed to have Mike tell him it was going to be ok and hold him, but he knew this wasn't going to happen, and he didn't know how he would even begin his to explain his current state to Mike. He did know that he didn't want Mike to know what had really happened. Mike could never know the truth.

After vacillating for a few minutes, the cabby roused him from his thoughts and Harvey closed his eyes and sighed, he apologized to the cabby for the confusion and then gave him his own address. The cabby started to complain about having to drive back in the opposite direction, but after looking at Harvey's pale face he quieted and began driving.


	2. Chapter 2

It took Mike five punches before he finally connected with the alarm clock. And it took a few minutes more before he sat up with a start, remembering how important today was. The Wilson deposition.

He raced out of bed and hurried through a shower, barely stopping to consider breakfast, he decided it would have to wait. The last thing he wanted to do was be late, Harvey would kill him.

He practically ran through the lobby and to the elevator, his legs burning from riding the bike so fast, silently cursing himself for not waking up sooner. He hoped that he had beat Harvey to work, but seeing as how important this case was to him, he doubted that Harvey would consider leaving anything to chance and had probably arrived a the crack of fucking dawn.

Coming around the corner to Harvey's office he braced himself for the berating he was sure to receive, even though he was there a full half hour before the clients were to arrive, it wouldn't be good enough. He was stopped in his tracks by a small crowd standing outside of Harvey's office.

He briefly wondered if Harvey had gathered an audience for his humiliating lecture, but knew Harvey better than that, he wasn't Louis.

As he got closer he realized that something was wrong, something was very wrong, and the panicked look on Donna's face was enough to stop his heart. A few people at the back of the crowd turned and look at him questioningly. As he pushed his way through the crowd he caught a few comments from the onlookers.

"Is there blood in there? I heard there was blood!"

"What do you think they wanted?"

"Who do you think did it?"

"Where is Harvey? He's going to be so pissed"

None of which helped quell the nervous quivers in his gut. Finally breaking through the group he got his first glimpse at what the fuss what about.

Harvey's office was a disaster. His desk was cleared and there was paper everywhere. His computer lay smashed on the floor and it appeared someone had intentionally knocked his records on the floor. He breathed a little when upon first inspection there appeared to be little basis to the 'blood' rumour. Pushing the others aside he opened the door to step in and immediately felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him. He turned, hoping to see Harvey and instead found Louis' smug face staring him down.

"Stay out of there until the police have time to go over it and collect evidence, I can't really say I'm surprised, Harvey is a ruthless bastard, it was going to happen sometime"

Mike quelled the urge to punch him squarely in the nose and instead managed only to ask him what he meant through clenched teeth.

"You know what I mean, he's pissed off a lot of people, I know you think he's all noble and good, but your just a kid, Harvey is a blood sucker."

The urge to lash out hit its fever point and just as he was clenching his fist he caught sight of Harvey over Louis' shoulder and his blood ran cold.

* * *

After convincing his kind hearted doorman to foot the bill for his cab ride, Harvey had almost crawled up to his apartment.

He was still fearful of them being there, but a quick, perfunctory check found the place empty and as he had left it.

Not really knowing what to do he made his way to the bathroom and finally looked at himself for the first time in the mirror.

His face was completely white, the dark circles under his eyes bore witness to the fact that he hadn't slept well all week, and he knew damn right well that sleeping was going to be very difficult even more so now. His hair was mussed and the workout clothes hung awkwardly on his body. But most notable was the large red patch on his shoulder.

He realized he had forgotten about the knife wound on his shoulder, and suddenly the alarmed looks of the cabby and his door man made sense.

He knew he needed to wash the wound, wash all of his wounds and turned the water on the shower. Much hotter than he would be able to stand for long, but he felt like it was the only way to feel clean again.

Then he began the slow process of taking off his clothes and examining his other marks. He had a few bruises on his ribs from them trying to restrain them. The knife had left an angry red line on his throat, he would have to wear something high necked that day. The bruises on his inner thighs had taken more shape and some resembled the hands that had held his legs. He gingerly touched them and found them to be sore, but not overwhelming. The cut on his shoulder looked angry, but thankfully didn't appear to be deep enough to require stitches, not that he had even considered going to the hospital. His ass hurt like hell but didn't appear to be bleeding anymore.

After his inventory was complete he climbed into the shower, with a sharp gasp at the heat and began to scrub his body as hard as he could. He became vaguely aware that he was weeping through this but continued anyway until he couldn't stand any longer and slumped to the floor.

He thought of Mike, and how he was so incredibly perceptive, he would know something was wrong, and would press him until he told him. He didn't know why but Mike had a way of working things out of him somehow every time, no matter the dodging tactics he employed. It was one of the qualities that he admired. He knew that Mike would be arriving at the office soon, hyped up and ready to tackle the case that day, and instead would be greeted by Harvey's destroyed office. He knew Mike would worry, and would likely immediately come over to his apartment to check on him. That was what Mike did, he was a caring sort of person.

He realized that the water was actually starting to cool down when he started to shiver and looked at his very wrinkled fingers. He had no idea how long he had been in the shower, but evidently it was too long.

He knew, despite it all, that he needed to get dressed and go back to the office. If he was going to keep up the robbery appearance, he had to arrive as though he knew nothing of what happened. It was also the best way to deflect Mike, because he knew if Mike came to his home and they were alone, he wouldn't be able to control himself from telling him everything. His biggest fear was scaring Mike away, and he wasn't sure how he would take something like this. Hell, Harvey didn't know how he was going to deal day to day. "Not even close" was Sellers parting comment, it meant they were coming back, and he didn't know when. The fear of this thought almost paralyzed him.

Once dressed in an elegant charcoal suit with a shirt, that although was from a few seasons ago, had a high collar he viewed himself in the mirror. He looked like Harvey again, and he knew that to almost everyone in the office, nothing would appear out of order with him. Harvey had perfected the steely gaze to hide his true emotions long ago, and knew it would be his best asset against Donna, Jessica and Louis. All he could hope is that Mike would be too distracted to see through it, he doubted it, but he hoped so.

After collecting enough money to repay the door man, he made his way downstairs. His chauffeur was there waiting as they had discussed the day before and he glanced at his watch to see that he was running behind. This meant Mike would get there first, he had to get there as quick as possible before Mike came looking for him.

The ride to the office was nerve-wracking and he had to swallow back the panic when he saw the front doors. He really didn't think he was ready to go back in there, let alone face his office, but he knew he had no choice.

Stepping off the elevator he caught sight of the expected crowd of rubber neckers trying to catch a glimpse, but he didn't see Mike in the mix. He swore he had seen the kids bike locked up downstairs, that had given him hope that he was still there, but without a visual he now wasn't sure. Then he saw Louis talking to someone and as Louis moved his big head slightly to the left, his eyes locked on Mike's, and dammit if those big blue eyes didn't immediately stare into his soul. It was unnerving how Mike did that, even more so at that moment. It took Harvey a full 30 seconds to finally tear his eyes away and regain his aloof composure. It occurred to him that he wasn't really sure how to play this, should he be enraged? Just merely annoyed? He decided that merely annoyed was his best Harvey-like defense.

"I wasn't aware there was a floor show this morning"

The rubber neckers started at hearing him behind them and they all turned slowly. Mike continued to stare at him wide-eyed, making him feel exposed.

"Sorry Mr. Specter, but…"

"Please get the hell out of my way, don't you have work to do?"

Then he prepared to feign his best surprised expression when a few of them moved and he could actually see his office. It turned out he didn't have to feign much surprise, it took him aback to see how bad it really was in the light of day and without his head so hazy.

He heard Donna on the phone calling the police and quickly walked over to disconnect her.

"Let's just keep this internal for the time being, I really don't need some power tripping cops snooping through my clients files, thanks." He also didn't need anyone asking any questions period.

Donna looked shocked and started to protest, but Harvey had already walked away.

"I really don't want to have to repeat myself ladies and gentlemen, get back to work."

If it had been any other day, Harvey would have thoroughly enjoyed watching the underlings scuttle away like chickens with their heads bobbing, but today was no ordinary day.

Louis approached him and started rattling on about how Jessica wouldn't want this kept internal and that the police should be informed, and just what the hell did he keep in his office anyway that would attract this kind of attack, and he had clients of his own to protect and he would have to warn them of the potential threat and on and on.

Harvey simply ignored him, held the door open for Mike to enter and closed it behind them, shutting Louis out.

"What the hell Harvey?"

"It would seem that this case is getting to someone, wouldn't it. Collect all the papers together, we'll need them and we only have a few more minutes before the deposition starts."

"Wait, what? Don't you think, in light of these events, that we shouldn't reschedule? I mean, Harvey…"

"Mike. Just do it, we are not rescheduling, we are not letting some low life scare us." Oh, how he wished that statement were true, because he was completely terrified.

Mike stood dumbfounded for a few seconds, but after a stern look, began collecting the paper work. Harvey quickly moved to the desk to double check there was no evidence of what had really happened, and was happy not to see anything. He wasn't sure how he would have reacted if there were, he probably would have thrown up right there. As it was, being in the office was making him queasy enough, so he actually began helping Mike pick up the papers, if only to speed them up in leaving. Mike looked surprised at this turn of events, but kept his mouth shut. Harvey could see him throwing him sidelong glances every few minutes, worry clearly etched on his face, but he just ignored them. Mike could clearly tell he wasn't getting the whole story, but thankfully he wasn't pushing it, yet.


	3. Chapter 3

The deposition went as expected in terms of result, what wasn't as expected was how much Mike had to step in when Harvey seemed to falter or his eyes glazed over as his mind left the room. Harvey knew it was happening but couldn't stop it, the flashbacks were haunting him. Mike thankfully took it in strike, he had gone from being shut out of meetings at the adult table to running the entire thing in very short succession.

When the clients had left, they made their way back up to Harvey's office to debrief. Harvey desperately trying to come up with reasons to go elsewhere, but all of them sounded hollow, they always went back to his office.

Harvey was also dealing with the fact that the queasiness had turned into all out nausea and he was aware of a cold sweat that had broken out all over his body.

He tried to believe that it was only because he hadn't eaten yet or had any coffee, but he knew better. As they made their way to his office, Mike chattering away beside him, he noticed that his vision was starting to duplicate and Mike's voice seemed to be falling away. He turned to look at Mike as he heard him say his name, it sounded like he was in a tunnel and then it went dark.

He awoke some time later, he wasn't sure how long, lying on the fainting couch in his office. The name of the couch now made sense and he would have laughed had he the energy. As he opened his eyes, they were met with the very concerned eyes of Mike, who was leaning over him quite close, and there was a time that would have caused a thrill, but considering how his head felt at that moment he just closed his eyes again.

"Harvey? Harvey, open your eyes! Are you ok?"

Footsteps, Donna.

"The paramedics are on their way, is he awake?"

"Yeah, I think, he just opened his eyes for a few seconds, but he might be back out again."

Harvey felt the urgency rising to stop those paramedics, the last thing he wanted to do at that moment was go to the hospital and be examined, what had really happened would be pretty obvious. He struggled to find the energy to speak.

"No paramedics." He finally whispered.

"Harvey? You are awake! Are you ok? What happened? Do you want some water?"

After a few deep breathes, he found more strength.

"Ok Mike, one at a time, yes I'm awake, no paramedics, I'm fine."

Even he knew he didn't sound fine, the quiver and weakness in his voice giving him away, but he had to fight this.

"Uh, you just went out cold for a solid 20 minutes, your not fine."

"Michael, I'm fine, it's probably just some food poisoning, I'll go home, get rest and be just fine. Call the paramedics back and tell them not to bother."

"but Harvey, I think you should be checked out just in case, you…"

"Donna, call the paramedics back and stop them."

Harvey knew no matter what, she would do his bidding, even as Mike continued to protest. He heard her voice on the phone a few minutes later, telling them it was a false alarm and he relaxed a bit.

He decided to do what he said he was going to do, just go home, and went ahead and sat up, which turned out to be a really bad idea at that speed. The room spun violently and he thought for a few moments he might be sick on Mike. He felt Mike's hand on his chest, pushing him back down.

"Harvey, just stay lying down for now, since you are so insistent on not receiving medical attention."

He heard the murmering of the rubber neckers outside the door, and thought amusedly to himself that they had gotten one hell of a floor show today. He could hear Louis coming down the hall asking what had happened, and that all this distraction was getting in the way of his very important work.

"Close the door Mike, It's a little loud out there."

He felt the couch move as Mike moved off of it and heard the soft whoosh of the door as it closed, and then the returning warmth of Mike's body as he sat back down.

"Do you want anything? Maybe you should drink some water"

Still unsure of whether his stomach was going to cooperate, Harvey decided on nothing for the time being. His head was clearing and the ringing in his ears seemed to be diminishing rapidly. He decided to try sitting up again and found it easier and more successful this time.

"See, I'm fine, but" as Mike's mouth opened to protest "I'll go home anyway, we've done good work today and I think we both deserve a break so you can take the rest of the day off."

Mike looked nonplussed, Harvey never took a break.

"Mike may not be at work, but he will be busy, looking after you."

Harvey looked up at Jessica, whom he hadn't even heard enter the room and could see the mixture of business posture and genuine concern on her face.

"Harvey, are you ok? What happened?" She moved forward to take Mike's suddenly vacated place on the couch next to him.

"I'm fine, probably bad sushi, a little rest and I'll be back at it."

"Well, go home, take a few days if you need them, you look tired."

"Thanks, what a compliment."

"I'm serious Harvey, you have been killing yourself with this account, take some time, your exhaustion has clearly caught up to you."

"Fine, I'll take the rest of the day, but I don't need a babysitter."

"Think of him more as a caregiver, I don't want you passing out again and hitting your head on something. You have a lot of sharp angles in your place."

"Really, Jessica, I'm fine, I just…"

The look on Jessica's face meant no argument; he decided he would offload Mike some other way, on the way home perhaps. He knew that no matter what, he couldn't and didn't want to be alone with Mike.

* * *

After a somewhat awkwardly orchestrated performance of getting Harvey down to the car, much of it Mike's doing, they began the crawl through mid morning traffic. Harvey rested his forehead against the cool window and closed his eyes. He could feel Mike's eyes boring holes into the side of his head, but he was tired enough not to care at the moment. His intention was to tell the driver when they got to his place to carry on to Mike's and just leave him in the car. He knew this sounded great in theory, but would be far more difficult to achieve in practice. Mike was one stubborn bugger.

"Harvey?"

"Yes Michael"

"Ok, stop calling me Michael for one thing, and just what hell is going on?"

"Nothing Michael, stop reading into things."

"Stop hiding things! Why don't you trust me?"

That's not the problem, Harvey thought sadly, it's more that I don't trust myself, and I'm scared of losing you, but I can't tell you these things because to say them out loud would be insane.

"I think it's safe to say I do trust you, considering I hired you despite everything, stop projecting your personal life on me."

Harvey knew that was a cold answer, but he needed Mike to stop pressing the issue, and to also hopefully upset him enough that he would willingly let Harvey go home alone.

Harvey felt the car slow and then stop and knew they were there, the timing had to be right. As fast as he could manage he opened the door and stepped out, the driver looked stunned as he started moving towards his door to open it for him.

He quickly gave him Mike's address and told him to take Mike home and no where else, and started walking quickly to the door. The pain in his legs somewhat impeded his progress, but he was determined.

He heard Mike protesting with the driver behind him but kept walking. He hit the button on the elevator and stood there willing it to come quicker. Why was it when he was in a hurry both elevators were on the top floor?

Then he heard his doorman trying to stop Mike coming in the door and then he was beside him, panting from running away from the driver and doorman, and also somewhat in fury.

"What the fuck? You know what Jessica said, and frankly I'm a little concerned too, let's be honest, you haven't been yourself today, so deal with it, I'm coming up there to keep an eye on you."

Harvey smarted at the hurt in Mike's voice, he knew his concern was genuine. But he had to keep trying to deflect.

"At what point today have I not been myself, other than passing out." He asked incredulously.

"Oh gee, I don't know, the way you spaced out through the entire deposition, or…" Mike paused, and Harvey could see him fighting with not infuriating his boss and still getting his point across. "You just haven't been you."

Harvey knew there was no point in arguing this fact, Mike was Mike, he knew how Harvey normally was and this was what he knew would happen once he got around Mike. Hiding from him was quickly no longer becoming an option.

"You're not watching me sleep, you freak, so if you insist on coming upstairs, then you will remain in the living room."

Mike relaxed with Harvey's relenting and agreed to the terms quite energetically.

Once upstairs, Harvey gave him the TV remote, informed him of his boundaries and then retreated to his bedroom to sleep. Sleep actually became him lying in bed in the fetal position listening to Mike's every move, but he eventually drifted off, feeling almost safe with Mike being only a few feet away and Harvey knew then that he was on a dangerous and slippery slope, but couldn't help it.

* * *

_How dare he try to fob me off to the driver._

Mike flicked angrily through the channels in Harvey's ridiculously expensive apartment on his ridiculously expensive couch. His initial fury outside the elevator had evaporated in concern at the pain in Harvey's face. But with Harvey safely tucked away in bed, he had time to be mad. He wasn't sure what Harvey was trying to hide, but Mike knew it was big and it was affecting him a great deal. He had never seen Harvey off his game like that with a client, and to see him collapse like that in the hallway. Mike took in a shaky breath at remembering that moment. He had never been so scared.

Taking this job had been risky, but what he felt for that boss who had charmed him initially but had infected his every thought and dream since was even more risky.

Mike hated seeing him like he was right now, and really hated not knowing what was wrong or how he could help. The pain was so clear in Harvey's eyes it was crushing and he just didn't know what to do.

He got up and started pacing around the living room trying to decide how to get Harvey to talk. Harvey was one hell of private human being, but Mike liked to think that he had cracked the shell a little bit since he started working with him, but now he wasn't so sure.

After about an hour of wandering about the room he went into the bathroom and noticed a pile of clothes in the corner. At first he paid them no attention, and after finishing, washed his hands and went to use the towel on the rack just above the clothes and stopped dead. The clothes had blood on them. Mike slowly picked up what he quickly identified as a t-shirt and looked at the large reddish brown stain. It was on the left shoulder area and appeared to have come from a fairly serious wound.

He started to shake a little, who had done this to Harvey? What the hell was going on? What the hell had happened in that office?

Then he heard footfall behind him and turned just as Harvey came in. Harvey was startled at first at seeing Mike standing there, but once his eyes landed on the bloody shirt, he blanched and slowly backed out of the room.

Mike dropped the shirt and followed him quickly, and that was when Mike noticed that Harvey was limping.

"Harvey, talk to me, what the hell happened? Who did this to you?"

"Don't worry about it Mike, it's none of your business anyway. Look, I'm fine, go home."

Well there wasn't a chance in hell of that happening, Mike was in full on protection mode now, even though he knew nothing of what he was protecting Harvey from, he wasn't leaving him now.

"No, I'm not going anywhere, is someone after you?"

"If they were, what makes you think they haven't found me already?"

Harvey had a point, the shirt indicated that an altercation had already happened.

"Why are you limping? What happened to your shoulder? Is it bad? I should take a look at it."

Harvey whirled around at this and the panic in his eyes make Mike jump.

"No, you will not, it's none of your business, just go home."

The shaking in Harvey's voice gave him away and Mike quickly closed the distance between them. Putting a hand on his seemingly uninjured shoulder, Mike tried to sound as soothing as possible.

"Harvey, I'm not here to make anything worse, just talk to me, maybe I can help like you helped me with Trevor."

Harvey gave a short sarcastic laugh, shrugged off Mike's hand and backed up a few steps.

"Trust me when I tell you, there is nothing you can do, and I don't want you getting in the way."

He was back in Harvey Specter mode, the steely gaze fixed on him, but it didn't last too long when he wobbled a little and Mike didn't even think when he jumped forward to catch him before he hit the floor. He guided him to the bed to sit down and his concern was only raised when Harvey openly winced as he sat down.

"How bad are you hurt?"

"I'm not great, but I'll survive."

Finally an answer.

"Who did this?"

"None of your business."

Shit, he's shutting down again, new tactic.

"Are they gone?"

The look of sadness on Harvey's face at that moment made Mike hold his breath.

"Not even close." Harvey whispered.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, look, are you done with the Spanish inquisition yet, or are you going to let me sleep?"

And steel Harvey was back, the moment of vulnerability gone.

Mike sensed that this was end of the discussion and decided that he needed to give him time. The pushing tactic hadn't worked, so he was going to try the waiting one.

"Ok, yeah, go to sleep, sorry."

"Thank you, back to the living room, and this time, stay there."

"Ok boss."

As he closed the door behind him Mike was even more confused and worried, this was bigger than he thought, and he wasn't sure what he was facing, but he did know that Harvey wasn't facing this problem alone. He would make sure of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Mike woke with a start a few hours later. After getting over the confusion of where he was, he wondered what had woken him. Then he heard it, a muffled scream and Harvey's voice pleading with someone. He jumped up from the couch and grabbed the first thing he could see that could be used as a weapon. He wasn't sure who had gotten in, or frankly how, since he was sleeping right there in the living room, but none of that mattered, Harvey was in trouble, he had to do something.

As stealthily as he could in the darkness, he slipped through Harvey's bedroom door and peered around the corners, he heard Harvey pleading again and realized that no one else was in there, Harvey was having a nightmare.

Mike vacillated for a few seconds, unsure of what to do, how Harvey would react if he were to awaken him, but when Harvey cried out in pain, he was at his side instantly. He gently shook Harvey's shoulder until the distress seemed to slow and Mike thought he had stopped it until Harvey sat up suddenly knocking Mike to the floor.

Harvey looked at him panicked for a few seconds until recognition set in and he let out the breath he had been holding in. Putting his face in his hands and lowering it to his knees Harvey worked at catching his breath.

Mike was somewhat unsure of what to do. The side that loved Harvey unconditionally ached to leap up and pull him into his arms to comfort him and tell him everything would be ok. The rational side told him to wait until Harvey gave him instruction.

"Sorry Mike, I hope I didn't wake you."

The words were probably meant to sound different, but Harvey's voice was still shaking, giving away the emotion underneath and Mike saw right through it. The urge to comfort was growing quickly, with Harvey sounding so upset it was near impossible to control himself.

"Harvey, are you ok? What was the dream about, do you want to talk about it?"

"Again with the talking," Harvey attempted a laugh that sounded choked. "No, I don't want to talk about it."

Suddenly Mike felt his frustration spilling over.

"Ok, you know what, you can continue to act like nothing is wrong but clearly something is, you have some mysterious wound on your shoulder, you're passing out at work, your office looks like a fucking bomb went off and now you're having nightmares, Harvey, I'm your friend, talk to me."

Friend.. Mike wanted so much more, but now was not the time.

Then Harvey looked at him, and the conflict was written so clearly on his face that Mike's anger melted immediately and the urge to comfort regained strength.

"Come on Harvey, it can't be that bad, can it?"

Harvey's face filled with anguish and he looked down at his hands, fiddling with the blanket.

Ok, maybe it can be that bad. But what is that bad, Mike couldn't come up with anything in his head that fit the bill, which scared him, because it meant that it could be even worse than the worst thing he thought of.

"It has to do with a case that I dealt with before you started, about a year ago."

Mike slowly slid up onto the edge of the bed next to Harvey as he started to talk. At first, it seemed innocuous, Harvey had pissed off some Russian pervert and sent him home. But he was back.. and had come to find Harvey.. and…

His mind went completely blank when Harvey hit the worst part. He realized he was gripping Harvey's hands and that Harvey was shaking uncontrollably. The urge won over, and he threw his arms around Harvey and held him as tight as he could.

Yes, it was definitely way worse than anything he had thought of. Harvey had stopped talking and was close to hyperventilating, he hadn't finished telling Mike everything, but Mike was pretty much able to fill in the blanks at that point. The sons of bitches had gang raped him in his office.

Once he was able to think again the emotions flooded over him in waves. First was absolute pain and anguish for Harvey, the next was fury, how dare they do that to Harvey, his Harvey. The third was despair at how Harvey was going to get through this. What he knew was that he was not leaving Harvey's side, he now had a body guard and he would protect him no matter what. He was a skinny kid but he had a grandiose side that hoped that sheer anger would be his best weapon. He started whispering platitudes into Harvey's ear, anything to calm him down.

"Shhhh, it's ok, just breathe, it's going to be ok, I'm here."

All of which seemed useless in helping in this situation in Mike's mind but eventually Harvey did start to breathe normally and the shaking slowed down. He started to push against him a little and Mike realized he had probably crossed some serious boundaries, but then saw Harvey wince as Mike moved the arm he had resting on his shoulder. The wound on his shoulder, he must be hurting him.

"Can I see your shoulder? I just want to make sure it's ok." Mike now knew it was a knife wound and he was worried it needed stitches.

Harvey looked scared and unsure, but eventually relented to the examination. He leaned over and turned on the light next to the bed and then slowly slipped his t-shirt off. Mike couldn't help but gasp at the sight of the black bruises all down his ribs and on his arms. The finger marks on his biceps were especially disturbing, but then again, he knew there were probably worse bruises elsewhere, he would broach that subject slowly.

Harvey turned his shoulder toward Mike somewhat shyly, but relenting nonetheless. The cut was angry enough looking, with a bit of swelling at the edges. Mike pressed on it a little to see if he could get an idea of how deep it was and Harvey gasped a little at the pain.

"It's not that deep thankfully, but I think it's a little infected, I should put something on it and bandage it properly." Harvey considered this, and then nodded.

After helping Harvey up, they moved to the bathroom where Harvey sat on the toilet seat while Mike went to work on his shoulder. The lights in the bathroom only made the bruises look worse, against Harvey's pale pallor they looked like ink marks.

After he had dressed the cut to his own satisfaction he decided it was time to discuss other injuries, Harvey had been limping and he was worried there were other knife wounds.

"Are you hurt anywhere else? I should look to make sure you're ok."

Harvey looked alarmed at this suggestion and shook his head no. In normal circumstances, Harvey not speaking for this long would seem completely bizarre, and while this was not normal, Mike understood his muteness.

"Harvey, be honest with me, are there any other knife wounds."

Harvey finally found his voice.

"No, my shoulder was the only one" he whispered, "the rest is just bruises and I have already checked them, no broken bones or anything serious."

"Honest?"

"Honest"

"Ok, you're still tired, you should try getting some more sleep."

Mike became aware at that moment that since Harvey had started telling him the horrific events of the previous night they had not broken physical contact. Harvey didn't seem to be bothered by this and Mike hoped this meant that he was in fact a comfort to him. It was good that he wasn't scared of him.

They slowly made their way back to Harvey's bed, Mike supporting him around his back, careful to avoid the fresh bandage. Harvey slipped his t-shirt back on gingerly and sat down while Mike helped him get back under the covers.

"Do you want me to sit for awhile, until your settled?"

Mike realized how bizarre that sounded after he said it and worried that he went too far, he was starting to kick himself mentally when he heard Harvey say yes.

"Ok, I'll sit for a while, then retreat back to my couch." Mike attempted a smile but Harvey just sighed softly.

"Actually Mike, can you stay here with me? I'm hoping that having someone I trust nearby will stop the nightmares." The words were rushed, unsure, but the relief Mike felt was monumental.

"Sure."

After some awkward shuffling Mike settled in next to him with a 2 foot space between them. Though Mike continued to grip Harvey's hand. He wasn't sure why he couldn't let go, but just knew he absolutely could not. Besides, Harvey wasn't complaining so he figured it was ok.

With his free hand Harvey turned out the light and they lay there side by side staring into the darkness for a while.

"Harvey?"

A soft hmm came from the other side of the bed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry this happened to you, you didn't deserve it, and you have to know, it wasn't your fault."

The silence was deafening for a few minutes until Mike couldn't stand it any longer and looked sidelong at Harvey to see if he was ok. In the moonlight he could see the line the tear had left down the side of his face. He decided not to push it right then.

"Go to sleep, I'll see you in the morning."

A few minutes pause, then a soft reply.

"Good night Mike."

* * *

Harvey lay awake for almost two hours. He could hear Mike's deepening breath beside him as he fell asleep eventually. His words were still ringing in his ears. That this wasn't his fault. He didn't believe that for a second, but somehow hearing Mike, the person he trusted most in the world, say it with complete conviction had broken his heart a little.

Then there was the crushing guilt he was feeling about unloading onto Mike. Every little attempt he had made at keeping Mike from finding out had disappeared in that very minute Mike had entered his apartment. On the one hand, telling someone was a relief, but he hated that Mike was now dealing with this hell as well, their entire relationship tainted with it like poison.

Mike's hand had relaxed in his in sleep, but Harvey still held on tight. He didn't know how Mike had known that such a simple act could be so comforting but he was grateful. In fact he had seen a few different expressions on Mike's face that had perplexed him.

Harvey always assumed that any attraction was one sided on his part, Mike always seemed to be after one skirt or another, first Rachel, then Jenny and then Rachel a little again while with Jenny. He had never entertained the idea that the feeling might possibly be mutual. It still didn't explain the girls, but the way Mike had looked at him in the bathroom when he was bandaging his shoulder had been quite revealing. Though Harvey was scared to read too much into it. It could have just been a side affect to the news he had just received; he was overdoing the caring because he was uncomfortable with what had happened to Harvey. But that didn't explain the hand holding.

The more he thought about it, the more he realized he may not be imagining things.

He knew damn right well that he had no filter when it came to Mike, so controlling his own neediness of Mike's attention would be almost impossible. But it was beginning to seem as though Mike was in the same predicament.

It seemed as though he were on the edge of a precipice. If Mike did feel the same way then he had something to hold on to, someone, and hope rose a little in his chest that he could get through this and he wouldn't be alone. On the flip side, if he was wrong in his surmising, then things could get very messy and he could lose Mike altogether. The thought of that was like a boulder crushing his chest, he knew it would be the last straw, he couldn't go on if that happened. He gripped onto the hope, knowing that in this case, he had to be cautiously optimistic for his own sanity.

Sleep finally washed over him and the feeling of that hand in his felt like a lifeline.


	5. Chapter 5

For the second time in less than 24 hours Mike woke up confused as to where the hell he was. He felt like he was back in college waking up hung over in the strangest places.

But this wasn't the morning after a party; it was far more sinister. There was a brief moment of panic when he couldn't feel his arm, he gazed down at the weight and warmth he felt beside him and realized that Harvey had curled up against him at some point during the night and was on his arm, explaining the numbness. He knew the returning feeling would hurt like a bitch, but he couldn't bring himself to disturb Harvey, he actually looked peaceful, and he knew once he woke up that peace would be shattered.

He turned his head to look out the window and could see the rain drizzling down the glass and the dim greyness beyond it. It seemed appropriate somehow, that the weather would be dark as well.

Without warning the alarm clock went off and both of them jumped. Harvey rolled over quickly and hit the button. Mike tried to calm his pounding heart.

"Sorry, I must have forgotten to warn you about that."

Harvey curled up in a ball on the other side of the bed, the neutral zone between them re-engaged. Mike could see him looking at him sideways, clearly a little embarrassed or unsure about his nighttime migration.

"It's ok, just turn off the alarm and go back to sleep."

Harvey sat up then, turning his back to Mike.

"No, I should get moving, do you want to shower first or should I?"

Ignoring the roaring pins and needles invading his arm, Mike was incredulous.

"Wait, what? Where are you going?"

Harvey turned and regarded him for a moment over his shoulder, eyebrows knit together.

"Work. Where the hell else would I be going?"

"Uh no, Harvey, you aren't going anywhere." Realizing that had come out harsher than he intended, he softened his voice. "Take some time, you need it, and Jessica said you could have it."

"Clearly you don't know Jessica, or Louis really, like I do. She may have said I could have the time, but if I'm not there, she will be suspicious as hell and Louis will be circling like a vulture." With that Harvey rose, wincing the whole way, and started to limp towards the bathroom.

Ok, soft voice wasn't getting through.

"Harvey, get back here, you need to rest, I know you want to carry on like nothing happened, but that will not help you in the long run."

Suddenly Harvey picked up speed and few seconds later Mike heard him throw up.

This is why you need to rest, Mike thought, and quickly followed him.

Wetting a washcloth with cold water he put it on the back of Harvey's neck and gently rubbed his back, cautious of where he had seen bruises.

Harvey just sagged over the toilet and coughed.

"Now, do you still want to go back to work? Or are you finally convinced you need more time?"

More coughing, followed by a glare over his shoulder.

"Fine smartass, you get your way."

Back to soft voice.

"Just breathe, worry about insulting me later."

* * *

After Harvey brushed his teeth, leaning weakly on the counter, Mike had ushered him back to bed and he had been out before his head hit the pillow.

Mike wondered when he had eaten last, and started considering what he could make that Harvey could keep down. He needed something that much was for sure; his listlessness was a clear sign of low blood sugar.

He wandered into the kitchen and poked around. He was surprised to find Harvey's cupboards fairly well stocked, he always had seen him as an 'order in' or 'eat out' kind of guy. He found some soup, and put it on the counter to be ready to make when Harvey woke up.

Which was about 4 hours later. Mike had spent the time sitting next to him leaning against the headboard reading. He wanted to be there just in case Harvey had another nightmare, but thankfully his brain had let him just sleep.

"What time is it?"

Not even realizing he was awake the sound of his voice, croaky and quiet as it was, made Mike jump a little.

"Oh, hey, it's 11:30. How are you feeling?"

"Better actually, I guess you were right about the resting."

Mike couldn't resist.

"I'm sorry, did you just say I was right about something?"

"Shut up asshat, you heard me."

"Asshat? Since when do you use that on me? Since when does someone like you say that in the first place?"

"Since I find the word to be funny actually, and what do you mean by someone like me?"

At this point, they were both giggling and Mike was relieved to see that Harvey was doing better, even if only at the moment.

"You know what I mean by that, are you hungry?"

"I might be."

"You might be? You're not sure? When did you eat last?"

"No I'm not sure, I just woke up, give me a minute. I don't remember when I last ate… when did we have that lunch in my office? You know, from the Chinese place."

It was the day of the attack. Mike knew that, but wasn't sure how to say it.

"Almost 48 hours ago, no wonder you were sick, your body was reacting to a lack of nutrition."

"I'm sorry, what? Do you mean to say that as well as memorizing all of the law books you could find, you also memorized the medical ones? Paging Doctor House."

"Shut up, I'm going to make you some soup."

Mike wandered back into the kitchen and started opening the can and finding a pot. He heard Harvey's feet padding into the room and turned to smile at him as Harvey curled himself into a chair with a view of the kitchen. He was smirking at Mike cooking for him and he damn well knew it.

"Don't get used to this, I'm not your damn Mother."

"I know, but it's still kind of funny."

Mike wanted this light hearted banter to continue so badly, because he knew there would be a return to the darkness, but he hoped he could stave it off as long as possible.

The phone rang and Mike got to it first. It was someone at the front door calling up.

"Are you expecting someone?" Mike thought the question innocent enough until the look of panic on Harvey's face made him think otherwise. Of course, the psychos had threatened to come after him again.

It rang again and Mike decided to answer, maybe them knowing Harvey wasn't alone would scare them off. Another grandiose view of himself he knew, but he was in protection mode again.

The voice on the other end was decidedly female however, Jessica, coming to check on Harvey, turns out he had been right about her suspicious nature. Now that he had answered the phone however, they couldn't just ignore her. She sounded genuinely surprised to hear Mike's voice on the phone, and he knew she had expected Harvey to offload him, like he had tried to.

A few minutes later she knocked on the door and this time Harvey beat him to it.

"Hey Jessica, what brings you here?"

Jessica looked shocked at how much worse Harvey appeared, gaunt and pale. Mike had delicately avoided mentioning it, but in true Jessica fashion she didn't mince words.

"Harvey, you look like hell!"

"Gee thanks Jessica, you know I'm going to develop a complex from all of these compliments you have been paying me the last two days."

"Funny, Harvey, seriously, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I told you, it was just food poisoning, but my care giver slash guard dog that you appointed insisted I stay home today."

Mike was impressed at how much he could turn that Harvey Specter personality on and off and it was almost a bit of a shock to hear it again even though Harvey's guard had only been down a few hours with him. He felt pleased though that he was now someone that Harvey was comfortable enough with to let that guard down at all.

"Hello Mike, I'm surprised to still see you here."

She looked him up and down and suddenly Mike was feeling very self-conscious about his wrinkly button down shirt and suit pants he was still wearing from the day before.

"You told me to watch him, so I stayed and slept on the couch."

Harvey gave him a warning look to stop talking. And he couldn't help but agree that that was a good idea.

"Mike is making me soup." Harvey stated with a barely contained smile of amusement. Jessica laughed in return and Mike's self consciousness returned. He knew Harvey was putting on a front for Jessica, trying to appear all tough and normal, but it still smarted a little being back to Harvey's puppy dog after the events of the previous night and what he knew. Jessica crossed over the living room and sat down on the couch with a file in her hand. As though reading his thoughts, Harvey gave Mike an apologetic look before following her.

"I thought you said I could take the day off, but I see you're bringing me work."

And then they started hashing out a deal for some fat cat client or another. Mike barely listened and focused on the soup. Harvey's silent apology had warmed him inside. That simple acknowledgement of their inner circle gave him what he needed.

A short while later he heard them coming towards the kitchen, but it was only for Jessica to say goodbye to Mike.

"Keep Louis the hell away from my office and Donna please" Harvey was saying.

"Is that why you let Mike stay, so Louis wouldn't be able to get at him?"

"That and he's making me soup."

"Uh huh, see you tomorrow Harvey. Bye Mike, keep an eye on him for me will you? I need him tomorrow back in top form."

Mike knew that Harvey would play that part, steel Harvey at the top of his game, but his inner core was completely shaken and Harvey was going to need his help to hide that fact.

"Bye Jessica, have a great day."

_Really? Did I just say that_ , thought Mike. _Lame-o_.

A few minutes later the front door closed and Mike heard Harvey deadbolt it.

He served out the soup and Harvey settled on the couch while Mike brought the bowl over to him.

It took Harvey a full hour to eat that soup, but he eventually did. Mike figured his stomach was probably hurting, so not rushing was probably a good idea.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the couch, being lazy. Mike at one end with his feet on the coffee table and Harvey stretched out with his head on a pillow that was propped on Mike's lap. The position seemed so natural to them. Harvey started going over the case Jessica had dropped off and Mike figured that if he was going to help Harvey through tomorrow, he had better get to know the case as well.

"Need help?"

"You do realize I have been a lawyer for over a decade right?"

"Yes I know, but maybe I should know the case too, in case you need help tomorrow."

Harvey considered this.

"Yes I suppose after the Wilson deposition debacle, that isn't a bad idea."

The case was straightforward enough, some big bank had fired an employee, that employee had taken exception and was suing. Pearson Hardeman was representing the bank. From what Mike could tell, the employee had no legs to stand on in the case so he was confused as to why it had come to Harvey.

"This seems pretty straightforward, open and shut, why does Jessica need your help."

"I was wondering the same thing, but then it occurred me, this case was just a decoy to get her into my apartment."

That made sense.

"She was just checking on you."

"She was being fucking nosy."

"She cares about you Harvey, you know that, look at everything she has done for you. Besides, when was the last time you took a sick day?"

"Never."

"Well there you have it, this is quite out of the ordinary for you, you can't blame her for being both concerned and curious."

"Yes well, the last few days have been anything but ordinary."

Mike heard the darkness coming into his voice and quickly tried to think of a tactic to lighten the mood again.

"What would you like me to cook you for dinner, macaroni and cheese?"

"If you find any of that shit in my kitchen, it's going in the garbage, and don't worry about me, I'm not hungry."

The soup had been a few hours ago, and Mike figured he should probably eat something else, but didn't want to push it too much.

"What about some toast later, you should try to eat something else, a bowl of soup is hardly enough food for a person for a day."

"I'm not really doing much to work up an appetite, and there are people who survive on less I'll have you know."

"Yeah, starving associates like me."

Harvey leaned his head back and peered up at Mike with the most innocent expression he could pull off in that position.

"Why Michael, are you saying I don't pay you enough? Perhaps a pittance more would suffice?"

Mike couldn't help but burst out laughing at Harvey's facial expression, it was pure gold.

Harvey joined in a few seconds later but stopped breathily with an exclamation of 'ow'.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you laugh, are you ok?"

Harvey suppressed another laugh and said, "I'm fine, and it's my own fault anyway."

Mike started to giggle a bit again, and Harvey sighed softly once he had gotten himself under control.

"In all seriousness Mike, are you struggling? I know you have your grandmother to care for and I'm sure that doesn't leave you much left over, I don't set the pay scale for the associates but I'm sure I could speak to Jessica about a raise."

Mike was taken aback at Harvey's caring words. He had been going about under the view that he didn't have a fucking clue about Mike's personal life, nor cared about it either, so to hear just how much he did know, and cared about was almost enough to make Mike cry a little. He wasn't sure how to answer, his so-called manly pride was telling him to assure Harvey he was fine, and really, he could do that while knowing that Harvey would see through it like a window, but he didn't want to be dishonest either, having Harvey take an interest was enough to help him open up a bit.

"It's not great, I mean, the home where my grand mother is, it's expensive, but I wanted the best for her. I'm still trying to pay for the years I did spend at college too, but I also don't want to be the turd that whined to his boss and got the raise over the other associates."

"Turd?" Harvey chuckled. "Well, I'm here to tell you that those other associates are the turds, your 5 times the lawyer they are put together so frankly I think you damn well deserve it."

Mike was gratified by Harvey's words, though a little embarrassed; he changed the topic before things got more awkward for him.

"Yes, turd, if you're allowed to say asshat, I can use turd."

"I wasn't aware we were having an argument about that, but ok, I relent, turd it is."

Harvey slowly sat up, stretching his back and arms gingerly as he did.

"I should call the Ray and make sure he's here early tomorrow, we'll have to stop by your place for you to get new clothes."

"You would have a problem with me wearing the suit I wore yesterday again."

"I had a problem with you wearing that suit yesterday to begin with, so I'm certainly not going to let you recycle it. And maybe if I'm there with you choosing, we can finally make you look half decent."

"You do realize I dress like I do so I don't upstage you right?" Mike asked with a laugh.

"You can do that without looking like a clown," came the response.

Mike relented, and Harvey made the call. He mused for a moment that Harvey hadn't even asked him if he was going to stay the night, it seemed to just be understood automatically. The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, and sleeping arrangements were decided to remain the same, with Mike on one side of the bed, and Harvey on the other, the neutral zone established.

Mike hoped that since Harvey had had a better day, he would be able to sleep without nightmares, but it wasn't to be so. He woke up twice to Harvey screaming and had to wake him and soothe him back to sleep.

The morning was much the same; Harvey had migrated over to him and was curled up against his side with his arm thrown across Mike's chest. Mike wasn't sure if this was just something Harvey did naturally to whoever was sharing his bed or if it was deeper, as in Harvey seeking comfort and familiarity.

His thoughts of Harvey sharing his bed with someone else were wiped away by the shrill ringing of the alarm clock. This time Harvey was able to get up, shower and get dressed without vomiting, they both agreed that this was a success.

Harvey almost looked like himself again in his dark charcoal suit with the matching vest and black and grey striped tie. Mike couldn't help but appreciate the view. Harvey was one sexy bastard, even when he wasn't trying. And Mike knew he definitely wasn't trying at that moment. If anything, he was just trying to get through each day sane.

They arrived at Mike's place a half hour later, and Mike hurried to shower while Harvey perused his closet, feigning that it was an impossible task to find anything decent. The laugh playing around his mouth made things almost seem normal again. Except that Harvey was standing at Mike's closet, choosing his clothes after they had slept in the same bed again. None of that was normal, but Mike had a feeling it might become the regular. After he showered he dressed quickly in what Harvey had chosen. Simple, black, and clean.

As they were leaving Mike noticed a garment bag on the back of his couch and looked at it and then at Harvey puzzled.

Harvey looked a little shyly at him.

"I thought you might be staying at my place again tonight, so I thought I would get clothes ready for you for tomorrow. We can leave it in the car until tonight, unless…" a short pause "you are staying here tonight."

Mike quelled an urge to just pull him into his arms on the couch and hold him. Instead he acted normal and smiled at Harvey.

"Good idea, no rushing in the morning would be good."

Harvey visibly relaxed and Mike picked up the bag and they headed out.

The day was pretty uneventful. The case held no surprises and was quickly quashed without even going to court.

Harvey's office had been cleaned up and his computer replaced. He was tentative going in at first, but seemed to settle after a while. Mike stayed with him all the same, just in case he was needed.

Donna popped her head in several times asking if they wanted coffee, or anything really. They both knew she was just worried and was checking on Harvey, so he let it slide.

After her fifth visit, Mike turned to him and asked him

"What are you going to tell her, if anything?"

Harvey sighed and leaned back.

"I don't know. I'm not telling her the truth, that's for sure, but you know Donna, she won't leave it alone."

"She cares about you, you've known each other for a long time, and like me, she can tell when something isn't right with you."

"I know. I'll figure it out later."

The ride home was quiet. Mike convinced Harvey to finally eat something; coffee in the morning was nowhere near sufficient. The night was also a repeat, they started separate, Harvey screamed twice, and they woke up tight together.

Louis stopped by Harvey's office the second day back, gloating about some big win he had gotten in Harvey's absence. Harvey smirked at him through the story, then proceeded to tell Louis just how he would have gotten more money for the client and the firm and essentially would have won the case bigger and Louis left with a scowl.

They looked at each other and burst out laughing.

And so began their routine for the next three months. Mike moved in with Harvey because it seemed ridiculous to have to go over to his place every couple of days to get clothes or other stuff. Mike had been against the idea at first, he wasn't sure how he would behave being around Harvey 24/7 but it occurred to him that that was how things were anyway. And Harvey always made little comments about the sketchy area of town Mike lived in and that he could save money by not paying rent even though he had come through on his promise to convince Jessica to give him a raise. Mike had finally relented after the first month.

No one at the office had any idea about their little arrangement. In fact, they had mostly closed themselves off from everyone. Mike never worked at his own desk anymore, he had the laptop now he had won in the bet with Benjamin so he just worked in Harvey's office.

Their isolationism did not go unnoticed by any means. Donna made frequent attempts to get Harvey alone, Mike could only assume it was for an intervention and because she still had questions about what had happened three months prior. The others all would throw them curious looks as they passed or stood in the elevator with them. Jessica kept assigning Mike cases that she declared were for him and him alone to look after. And he would look after them, with Harvey less than 5 feet away. After a while Mike stopped noticing the looks, and the attempts at distraction, his world was full of Harvey and he really didn't need anything else. The way that Harvey smiled at him in the morning when they had just woken up made his heart flutter and made everything else insignificant in comparison. The rest of the world could just go to hell as far as he was concerned.


	6. Chapter 6

Harvey sighed softly as he turned the page on his book. About two months ago Mike had declared Sunday's their day off. Harvey had laughed right in his face at the time, but had grown to truly enjoy these quiet relaxing days with Mike. They usually spent the entire day lying on the bed cuddled up together reading, or watching TV. The entire notion of the neutral zone had been abandoned after a week of Mike staying with Harvey. It seemed moot when they always woke up snuggled up to each other anyway. It was never a discussion they had, just a silent acknowledgment and then agreement.

Harvey leaned his head back onto Mike's shoulder, and Mike immediately responded by squeezing Harvey's arm gently. He had one arm draped around Harvey and was holding a tablet computer in the other, reading the news online.

Harvey was finding focusing on his book difficult today. His mind kept drifting back to musing over how much had changed in three short months.

He still had nightmares of that horrific night, and frequent terrors of when Seller and his cronies would reappear. He desperately hoped they had lost interest but seriously doubted it. The worst were the moments during the day when he would be doing something completely innocuous and have a vivid flashback of their hands on his body, their breath on his face, the noises they had made. Usually he was able to shake it off, but sometimes it would make him sick or really throw him for a while. Mike had learned to recognize these moments and was always there immediately to help him through it.

He remembered that first night when Mike stayed with him. The night after the attack. Mike had held his hand and been his anchor that night. It seemed ludicrous now that Harvey had been so desperate to keep Mike from finding out what they had done to him. At the time Harvey was completely unsure of their relationship and desperate not to lose Mike.

While it was never said in words, Mike somehow found a way to show Harvey that he cared about him everyday. They still had no definition to what was actually going on between them, but somehow this didn't seem to matter, it was now their status quo and neither were willing to question or change it.

He was so wrapped up in Mike and their little cocoon they had created for themselves that he frequently forgot about other people he might be hurting by shutting them out. Donna in particular. His inability to focus on his book this lazy Sunday was due mainly to guilt he was feeling about her. Friday afternoon she had come into their office, since Mike had moved in there as well, so tied together was their lives. Donna had ordered Mike out and demanded to talk to Harvey alone. Mike had refused and gone into his protection mode as Mike called it. Like Mike recognized his moments of weakness, Harvey had learned how to recognize Mike's protection mode and appreciated it when it was needed but in terms of Donna, she really was no threat, so it wasn't necessary.

Harvey had quietly asked Mike to step out for a minute, Mike's eyes had hit his imploringly, and Harvey could see he was worried, but he just smiled at Mike reassuringly, frankly, he had been expecting this confrontation for a while.

Donna had openly glared at Mike as he walked by and Harvey could only imagine Mike's expression as well.

"Harvey. What the fuck?" Was all Donna had gotten out in her fury; she had clearly been simmering more than he thought.

Harvey considered for a moment, he knew damn right well he couldn't play dumb, that would insult her intelligence, the changes in his behaviour were extreme to say the least.

Instead he tried to placate her.

"Donna, relax, everything is fine."

"You know what Harvey, everything is not fine, if I didn't know better I would swear you were suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Who the hell are you now?"

"Change is good Donna."

"Don't fuck with me right now, what the hell is going on? Are you in love with him or something."

So she had noticed. Harvey felt a little quell of panic begin; he wasn't ready to have anyone know about his relationship with Mike. Though he still didn't know what they were himself really, he wasn't ready to share yet either. He enjoyed their secret little world, without intrusion and judgment from anyone else.

Now might be a good time to play dumb.

"I'm sorry?" Harvey put on a confused but slightly annoyed expression.

Donna faltered a little, realizing she might have gone way too far out of bounds.

"Well, it just seems really weird how much time you spend with him."

She didn't know the half of it; she thought Mike still lived by himself in his crappy little apartment.

"He's my associate Donna, and I'm also his mentor, so yes, we spend time together, working." Harvey had added a little anger to his voice at this point. He hated hurting her but he needed her to stop pushing. "Frankly, I'm not overly impressed that that is where your mind went. I thought you knew me better than that, and I certainly thought I knew you better as well. Since when do you accuse me of things like that?"

Donna was looking completely sheepish at this point.

"I'm sorry Harvey, but you have to admit things have been different, I barely get to talk to you without him around. And Jessica has noticed too."

She was resorting to throwing Jessica under the bus now. Harvey knew she really was rattled. She was one of his oldest friends and cohorts and he realized that he might be treating her a little cruelly and certainly unfairly.

"If Jessica has an issue, then she should take it up with me. As for you, I guess I do owe you an apology, but relax, I'm fine, just working a lot and trying to turn Mike into a somewhat decent lawyer, and I'm here to tell you that that is extremely hard work."

She smiled at this.

"Now if I haven't been around, I'm sorry, I'll try better from now on. But do me a favour, don't jump to any ridiculous conclusions next time, that's how rumours get started, and it's a great way to have one hell of a falling out with me."

She looked away embarrassed, but conceded.

Harvey was dragged back from his mulling by Mike nudging him.

"Harvey, you there, earth to Harvey."

Harvey started a little bit and glanced over at Mike, who was studying his face with a small smile playing around his mouth.

"Oh, sorry, just lost in thought."

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah, just thinking about Donna."

"Hey, relax, you handled it well, I know you feel guilty, but you need her to stop digging and she will now. She'll get over it."

Harvey rolled over more towards Mike and laid his cheek on Mike's upper arm. Their faces were only a few inches apart but Harvey didn't mind the intimacy.

He contemplated the window for a few minutes under Mike's chin while mulling things over more.

"I'm not sure she will ever forgive me."

"She will, she cares about you, and she only came at you in the office because of that. She was worried."

"Yeah. I guess."

Harvey felt Mike's breath cross his face gently and looked up at him. Suddenly Mike's lips were on his own and Harvey froze instantly with surprise. Mike clearly felt this and pulled his head back immediately.

"Harvey, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry… say something."

Harvey looked at him stunned for a few seconds longer and then blinked a few times and relaxed.

"No, Mike, I'm sorry, you just took me by surprise there."

"Well, I'm sorry about that." Mike regarded him for a minute, clearly debating on what to do next. Harvey decided to take matters into his own hands, he was curious about this new development and wanted to test it out further. He slowly moved in and kissed Mike gently. Mike returned it immediately and Harvey decided that this was not so bad, in fact, it was quite nice and not nearly as scary as he thought this kind of contact would be. Since the attack he had had a difficult time even considering any kind of intimate contact with anyone, even Mike, whom he had lusted after before the attack.

Not surprisingly Mike was the one to deepen the kiss, sliding his arms around Harvey's torso and pulling him closer. Harvey slid a hand up to Mike's face, feeling the stubble there as Mike refused to shave on lazy Sunday.

Mike parted his lips and used them to urge Harvey's to do the same. That is when the panic crept up. Harvey knew rationally that Mike wouldn't hurt him, but that didn't stop his irrational side from making it's presence known. He pulled back from the kiss more abruptly than he had intended and Mike looked a little surprised and then understanding and smiled softly at him to reassure him.

"Sorry." Harvey felt he should apologize. He didn't want Mike thinking he had done anything wrong, because on a certain level this is what Harvey wanted.

"It's ok Harvey, I am going to make you a promise though. I will never hurt you, ok? Never."

The strength of his conviction was clearly evident and Harvey felt a little choked up. He slipped his arms around mike and hugged him as tight as he could. Mike returned the hug just as tightly and gently kissed Harvey's ear.

Never in a million years could Harvey predicted the last few months of his life, but this moment with Mike had finally given him hope. He knew how he felt about Mike, but he had still been unsure of Mike's entire emotional connection. He had mused several times that for all his touting to be unemotional; he was worrying about Mike's emotional attachment to him. The kiss had been quite revealing and the bead of happiness it had planted in Harvey's centre made him feel normal and alive again. He remained cautious, he was well aware just how quickly things could collapse around his ears, but right now, as Mike nuzzled his temple, he didn't really care.


	7. Chapter 7

Without fail, every year, the Bar Association held a fund raising ball that all lawyers were expected to attend for good PR.

It was the last thing on the planet that Harvey wanted to do on a Friday night, but he didn't have a choice, as Jessica made very clear.

She had worked hard through the week at getting him to find a plus-one for the event, no doubt trying to break the cement hold that Mike seemed to have on him. He had simply goaded her on, making her believe one day he would find someone, and the next declaring it ridiculous. He knew damn right well who he wanted his plus-one to be but wasn't sure if it was the best idea. It had been almost a week since their first kiss and while Harvey had certainly made a few attempts to get a second one going, Mike had rebuffed him, claiming that he didn't think Harvey was ready yet and he shouldn't be pushing himself. After Harvey had gotten over the outrage of Mike thinking he knew what was best for him, he had decided that he would just have to surprise him. He knew the kid was game, and the attempts he made at stopping Harvey were half-hearted at best, but he was still very insistent upon taking time.

By Friday, the day of the event, Harvey had decided that he did indeed want Mike as his plus-one, because frankly he couldn't imagine being there without him. When Jessica made her daily stop off to ask him if he had found a lucky lady, he couldn't help but have a little more fun at her expense.

"What do you mean lucky lady?"

Jessica sighed, clearly exasperated.

"You know what I mean Harvey, the Association wants as many people there as possible, it makes the event look more successful."

This was a pile of shit, he knew damn right well she just wanted him to spend time with someone other than Mike. Donna had let him in on the fact that Jessica was concerned about his closeness with Mike, but unlike Donna, she hadn't had the gonads to say anything directly to him about it yet.

"I realize that Jessica, so I will bring someone this evening."

Jessica's face lit up at this, she almost looked smug, like she somehow had won this case.

"Oh, good, is it someone I know?"

She sat down on one of his guest chairs (the same chair as Seller, Harvey noted with some sadness) and leaned forward conspiratorially.

"Oh, you've met."

"Really? What's her name? Is she a client, you know how I feel about you dating clients."

Her attempt at outrage that he might be dating a client was poorly executed, she was clearly thrilled at the prospect of Harvey's mysterious date and didn't give a crap if the so-called date was a client or even a convicted felon.

Harvey realized he was enjoying this far too much, but it had been a boring week at work and he needed the amusement.

"Not a client no, I'm aware of the policy."

"So who is it? Please don't tell me you're going to make me wait until tonight to find out"

Harvey considered that idea, but decided against it because this was really not something he should shock her with, not that he was intending on actually telling her that Mike was his date, as in using that word, but he figured she was going to want an explanation and he didn't want a public scene. His mind worked quickly for something that she couldn't argue with.

"No I won't, and it's not a she, I'm bringing Mike, I think the chance to meet the movers and shakers would be good for him. A chance to establish relationships with other lawyers he may go up against in the future. I think it's a great way for him to also learn how Pearson Hardman handles themselves at events like this," Harvey finished proudly, as though this idea of Mike coming was all about Mike's career and helping him be better for the firm, when it was really all about him not being away from Mike, even for an hour or two. Harvey was quite pleased with how quickly he had come up with the excuse.

Jessica looked nonplussed. Then slightly outraged. He could see the annoyance written clearly on her face. She struggled to keep her composure, and he could see her attempting to come up with something, anything, to make it sound like a bad idea, but she was drawing blanks. Harvey knew that it was a logical sounding plan on his part and she had no real way of arguing against it since she was one who always touted helping the associates establish relationships in the legal community.

"I see, well… see to it that he has something decent to wear, I don't want him looking like a mess as usual."

With that she rose, face frowning in disappointment while Harvey stared at her with mock innocence.

Just then Mike came strolling in with a book in his hand. He had gone to the library to do some research for their case, and had brought the relevant text back with him, rather than working on it there because he seemed to hate being away from Harvey too long. Harvey found this to be sweet and somewhat adorable.

"Mike," Jessica grumbled, "I guess I will see you tonight."

Mike looked surprised, and turned to Harvey with the question on his face. Harvey just smiled and nodded at him and Mike accepted that as an answer and headed over to the table to get to work.

Jessica turned back to Harvey just before she stepped out of the office.

"Please make sure he knows how to conduct himself tonight, I don't want any surprises or embarrassment."

Harvey found this to be a curious statement but she was gone before he could ask. Mike did however.

"What the hell did she mean by that, what's happening tonight?"

"I'm not entirely sure what she meant, but you and I are going to a party tonight." Mike looked confused. "The Bar Association thing Mike, you knew about this, how do you have this memory but forget the simplest things."

Recognition washed over Mike's face.

"You know my memory doesn't work like that, and I wasn't aware I was invited tonight."

"You're my date," Mike's eyebrows shot up. "You are my plus-one for tonight as an associate," Harvey clarified.

"Oh, ok." Harvey could see Mike was clearly pleased with this turn of events, he hadn't been keen on the idea of Harvey being away for a few hours either.

"Forget the book, we need to go shopping."

"Oh." Mike was surprised again.

"I have been informed by Jessica that you need to look decent tonight, so we are going to need to get you a proper tux."

Mike's inability to hide his emotions from his face could be quite amusing sometimes and the look of disgruntlement at that moment was no different. Harvey couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Relax Mike, it won't hurt."

* * *

It turned out, it did hurt. The tailor assisting them managed to stab Mike multiple times with pins, as he was hurrying since he didn't have much time to make many alterations. Each impalement with a pin made Mike give Harvey a dirty look. He was not enjoying himself at all.

Harvey, for his part, laughed through the entire thing, but also brought Mike a few tissues to clean up the blood and took him out for a drink while they were waiting for the alterations to be done.

"So what do you think Jessica meant by me not embarrassing her tonight?"

He had directed this question more to his beer than to Harvey.

"Honestly, I'm really not sure, I know she and Donna have been commiserating about our closeness," Mike's eyebrows rose again, "but it seems strange that she would say something like that."

Mike considered this and then suddenly looked a bit panicked.

"Do you think she knows anything about my past? About Trevor?"

"I think if she did, she would just out right say that. Trust me, I would know about that by now; she's not one to use devious tactics. I think it was more that she thinks you have some weird hold on me, I guess. Though I have heard rumours of her trying to woo new partners to the firm and she may not be pleased that an associate could get in the way."

Harvey was still really confused though, Mike hadn't really done anything to make her so suspicious of him, at least that he could tell, but he really didn't know just how much she knew either.

Mike hummed in thought and drummed his fingers on the side of his glass.

"Let's go get your tux, we should make sure we're there on time."

"Are you ready for this? Maybe you should have told her you couldn't come tonight, it will be a big crowd." Mike blurted out as they headed for the door.

"I have no choice but to be ready, there was no discussion involved, I have to be there, I'm a senior partner for a huge law firm, my absence would be noticed."

He could feel Mike studying his face, so he smiled at him as warmly and reassuringly as he could.

"You'll be there with me, I'll be fine." Mike smiled at this and they left the bar to go get ready. He knew he was leading Mike into the lion's den, but he felt as though he was ready for it. He just hoped Mike did as well.

* * *

The party was as hideous as it always was. A lot of glad-handing, and pretending to like people Harvey would rather knee in the stomach. He always found it amusing that this was called a charity event, because it seemed far more like a high school reunion where everyone was measuring each others successes and failures, and who had gotten fat over the year.

Mike fidgeted beside him most of the night, but carried himself well otherwise. He had been polite and dignified in his conversation with the judges and other lawyers Harvey introduced him to. Even Jessica had noticed and begrudgingly complimented him on it. Harvey had given her a nice smug smile, she looked like she wanted to smack it off his face at first, but couldn't help but laugh.

Louis for his part, had convinced some poor unsuspecting woman to accompany him and he spent the evening showing her off to everyone who walked by. The poor woman looked entirely embarrassed and had been drinking copiously to deal with this fact. When Louis finally made his way over to Harvey to gloat about having a date when Harvey didn't, he was essentially holding her up as she could no longer stand on her own. Harvey couldn't help but point out to Jessica that she had been worried about Mike being the embarrassment. Louis glared at him until his date puked into the potted plant next to him. Harvey, Mike and Jessica had cleared away at that point, attempting to avoid association.

The evening was otherwise dull and full of self-importance. Harvey couldn't help but notice how good Mike looked in a tux. It was so foreign on Mike in many ways, but he still seemed to carry himself very well in it. Deciding that it was a great time to surprise him, he had convinced Mike he needed some time away and they had gone upstairs in the great mansion where the event was being held and found a private room where they could sit alone.

Mike was staring at him worried, thinking Harvey was having trouble or was upset.

Harvey loved the attention, and returned the worried look with a smirk before grabbing Mike's lapels and kissing him.

Mike's eyes widened in surprise but he quickly gave in to the kiss, returning it just as hungrily. Mike's hands traveled to Harvey's body and he slid them down his sides. Harvey moaned appreciatively in his mouth. Mike guided him across the room and pressed him against the wall and gently bit his bottom lip before kissing his way down his jaw to his neck. Harvey was panting slightly now and willed the panic that was quelling in his stomach to go away. He put his hands on either side of Mike's face and pulled it up to look at him, to remind himself that it was Mike, that he was safe, and that Mike would never hurt him.

Mike seemed to read these thoughts and let him do his evaluation of his face before leaning in and gently kissing Harvey's lips again. He slid his arms around Harvey's waist and pulled him close so their bodies were fully together. Harvey returned the tight hold around Mike's shoulders and they stood this way for a while, gently kissing and enjoying the closeness. Until Harvey's pocket buzzed.

Grumbling and a bit breathless he pulled the phone out and looked at it.

"Jessica, wondering where we are."

"We have to go back?"

Mike sounded more than just a little disappointed by this. Harvey was well aware of Mike's need as he could feel it between their bodies. He was disappointed as well, but at the same time knew this was not the time or place for things to go any further. He had every intention on continuing later however.

"Unfortunately, but hold this thought ok?"

Mike smiled, "Ok" and kissed him again.

"Do you need a minute before you rejoin the party?" Harvey asked delicately.

Mike looked away a little embarrassed, and if the lights had been on in the room, Harvey knew he would have been able to see the red creeping into Mike's cheeks.

"Yes, I'll be down in a minute." Harvey suppressed the laugh that threatened to erupt at Mike's unintended double entendre. That is, until Mike caught on to it and started laughing hysterically himself. They were both doubled over laughing when Harvey's phone went again and Harvey had to gulp in air to calm himself down. He was still chuckling when he left the room.

After adjusting his tux and hair he rejoined Jessica in the garden a few minutes later and kept an eye on the door for Mike.

Jessica actually seemed a bit pleased to have Harvey alone and didn't even bother asking where Mike was before introducing Harvey to an attractive female lawyer from another firm. Evidently Jessica was courting this woman to get her to join Pearson Hardman, and she intended on using Harvey to close the deal. This had been why she had been all over him all week about a date, she was hoping Harvey would ask this woman and had certainly dropped enough hints, but it took him until that moment to finally understand them all. Harvey couldn't help but feel a little like a high priced hooker and wasn't pleased. This was the first time Jessica had done this and he felt a little betrayed. He made no effort to hide his annoyance when he looked at her and excused himself politely but firmly before going to look for Mike.

He heard her trying to make excuses for him behind him, but he was verging on being really pissed at the moment and didn't care.

Mike came out the door and grinned at him at first, but when he saw Harvey's look of thunder he quickly came to his side.

"What's up? What happened? Louis?"

"No, Jessica, we're leaving."

"I… ok, let's go."

Mike waited until they were in the car before asking him what was wrong.

"Jessica is trying to have Veronica Price join the practice."

"This makes you angry? Who is she?"

"She's a senior partner at a rival firm, gaining her would be a real coup for Pearson Hardman but that's not why I'm angry. Jessica seems to think that I was the key to winning her over, she had every intention of using me as the one to court Veronica."

"You think Jessica wanted you to sleep with this woman to win her over?"

Harvey was quickly realizing he might have blown things out of proportion just a little because he knew Jessica had no intention of it going that far. She just wanted Harvey to charm Veronica a little.

"Oh fuck, no, she didn't, Jessica isn't like that, shit, I think I went a little overboard there." Harvey closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, embarrassed.

"A little, we just stormed out of the party."

"Shit, shit, shit. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. Oh I'll be apologizing on Monday."

Harvey couldn't help but laugh at that moment, he was behaving like a crazy person. Mike started to laugh as well and then added "well at least we made an exit." They both started laughing harder.

"Yeah, but Louis was the bigger embarrassment, at least I have that going for me."

"Yeah, what the hell was that? Where did he find her?"

"Cardboard box on the side of the street? I have no idea." Harvey laughed.

At this point they had arrived home and Harvey's phone started buzzing again.

"How mad is she?"

"She's pissed."

"I wonder why she didn't consider Louis for the job?"

Harvey looked at him and laughed again. "Well I guess it's because he already had a date."

After sending Jessica a quick apology and explanation that his reaction was due to concern over Louis's behaviour (nothing like deflecting) he turned his phone off. He fully intended on returning to the task at hand. He had started something with Mike at the party and he wanted to see it through. He just wished his hands weren't sweating so much.

Mike led him down the hall and opened the door. He slipped his shoes off and starting heading towards the living room, undoing his bow tie the whole way, clearly itching to get out of the tux he hated so much. Harvey followed him a little slower. He felt like a teenager going all the way for the first time. He kept trying to remind himself that he was being ridiculous, that Mike wouldn't hurt him and most importantly, he did want this. He knew that for sure, despite his nerves and fears, he wanted Mike. He felt giving his body to Mike would finally be a new start.

Mike was oblivious to all of the mind wracking going on behind him. He jumped a little when Harvey came up behind him and slid his arms around Mike's waist and kissed his neck. He got with the program quickly though and turned around, kissing Harvey hungrily while pulling him close again. He pulled back for a second to look at Harvey full on and smiled softly while brushing back some of Harvey's hair that had fallen forward. That simple act eased all of his fears for the moment. Harvey felt he was ready finally.

They resumed their kiss and Harvey slid Mike's jacket off and started on the buttons on his vest, and then shirt. Mike returned the favour and slid his hands inside Harvey's shirt when he had it open. He kissed his way down Harvey's jaw and down his neck. Sliding his lips across his collarbone he planted a kiss in the hollow of his throat.

Anxious to move a bit quicker Harvey moved to Mike's belt and undid it deftly. Mike moaned softly against Harvey's neck and pulled back to look at him again, this time with the question on his face. Harvey knew what he wanted to know.

"I want you to fuck me."

Mike looked a bit surprised by this, and was clearly deciding whether to ask if he was sure or not.

"I'm sure," Harvey answered the silent question and kissed Mike's swollen lips before continuing to undo his pants. Mike slid his hands down Harvey's shoulders, removing his shirt and then trailed his fingers up Harvey's back. It sent shivers down his spine and he leaned his head back and bit down on his lower lip and hummed appreciatively.

He felt Mike's hands at his belt and he started kissing Harvey's neck as he undid them. Mike wasn't quite as deft about opening a belt as Harvey was, but he got the job done. It suddenly occurred to Harvey that this might be Mike's first time with a guy. He felt really selfish all of a sudden because he hadn't stopped to even consider this, so engrossed in his own needs and issues as he was.

"Mike?"

"Yeah," Mike panted out.

"Have you…?" Harvey actually didn't know how to ask the question, he was back to being a teenager again.

Mike softly chuckled and looked at him with his eyebrow up.

"Yes," and seeing Harvey's shock, "I was fairly experimental in College, you should probably have figured that out by now, considering what I was doing when we first met."

Harvey closed his eyes and laughed quickly, of course, he should have known. He felt Mike's hand slip inside his underwear and start stroking him. He hummed again. He wasn't hard yet, his nerves were still causing a little disruption but with Mike's actually very skilled hands it wasn't taking long.

Mike started guided them back to the bedroom, kissing Harvey's lips, cheeks, jaw and throat the whole way. They both stepped out of their pants along the way. He backed him all the way up to the bed until his thighs hit it and he fell backwards on to it. Harvey laughed a little nervously at the shock of being pushed down. Then Mike was over him, kissing his chest and worrying his nipples with his teeth until they stood. Harvey ran his hands through Mike's hair and down his back, slipping them under his boxers and guiding them down until they hit the floor. Mike migrated down Harvey's stomach, and was sliding Harvey's underwear down following them with his mouth. Harvey groaned when he licked his cock from the base to the tip.

"Harvey, lube?"

"Bathroom, medicine cabinet."

The sudden cold air hitting his skin where Mike had just been was a bit of a shock and he watched Mike disappear into the bathroom and return a few seconds later with the bottle in his hand. His heart did a little panicky flip in his chest and he swallowed hard. Looking at Mike's hard cock was making him a little frightened despite his rational side reassuring him. Mike caught the look on his face and stopped dead.

"Harvey, you ok?"

"Yes, just give me a second." Harvey hated needing that second.

"Don't beat yourself up over it, we can stop if you need to."

Harvey sat up as Mike sat down on the bed next to him. He took a couple of deep breaths and he felt Mike's arm slide around his shoulders reassuringly. He leaned gratefully into the comfort. After a few more breaths his resolve was re-established and he leaned his head back and kissed Mike again. Mike returned it with a little bit of guardedness.

Harvey pulled back and looked at him.

"I'm ok, honest."

"You sure?"

"Yes, it's you, I know that, and you won't hurt me."

"No, never, I made you that promise and I intend on keeping it."

"I know."

With that, they resumed their kiss and at a much slower pace, running their hands over each others bodies. Harvey laid back down on the bed and Mike moved back down to his hips, kissing each one slowly, teasing Harvey the whole time. Harvey groaned impatiently, his cock had resumed position and he couldn't imagine anything hotter than Mike's mouth around it at that moment. Mike smirked up at him and obliged. Harvey tried to control his hips from bucking up but failed, Mike placed a hand on his hip and held it down. After bringing Harvey almost to the brink with his skilled sucking and hand, he stopped just in time. Harvey was panting hard and almost whimpered when Mike's mouth left him. He heard the click of the bottle and felt Mike's fingers start teasing his entrance. Harvey focused on breathing and keeping calm. He felt Mike's mouth gently teasing him again and found he was able to focus easily on that and forgot the fingers until he felt one slide inside of him. His eyes snapped open and he held his breath for a second until Mike's mouth slid down his cock again, and he let it out jaggedly. Mike's finger continued it's exploration and Harvey found that it was actually quite enjoyable, Mike was actually quite skilled at this. It only took a few tries before Mike found his prostate and Harvey bucked up into his mouth uncontrolled. Using his free hand to again hold Harvey's ass on the bed, Mike regained his composure and continued his ministrations with his finger. He slid a second one in to continue stretching and relaxing Harvey, who was panting and moaning intermittently at that point.

Harvey couldn't believe he had been scared of this with Mike. Mike was good, there was nothing bad about this with Mike.

He felt a third finger slide in and he had one hell of a time controlling his hips at that point.

Mike clearly decided that he was ready and popped open the bottle of lube again and liberally applied it to his own cock.

Harvey crawled backwards up the bed so he was in a better placement, Mike followed him, crawling up his body in a most sexy manner, Harvey mused.

Mike kissed him gruffly, giving away his own need, as he positioned himself between Harvey's legs and placed his cock at his entrance.

Mike waited for a few seconds, clearly giving Harvey another chance to change his mind, but he wasn't going to. Then he slid the head of his cock in slowly. Harvey gasped a little at the feeling, it always felt a little foreign at first. Mike's arms were shaking from controlling himself, but somehow he did, only moving forward at a snail's pace, giving Harvey time to stretch and accommodate him painlessly.

After what seemed like forever Mike finally was completely sheathed. Harvey got another indication of how much Mike wanted him when he could feel his cock throbbing inside of him. He kissed Mike and then moved his hips to notify him that he was ready. Mike hissed with the slight movement and started his own movements, short and small at first, but quickly longer and more needy. Each move hit Harvey's prostate dead on and he bucked his hips in rhythm with Mike's thrusts. Panting hard, he knew he was close and after a few more thrusts he yelled Mike's name and came hard on their stomachs. Harvey's shuddering from his orgasm brought Mike over the edge and he gasped and groaned loudly as he came deep inside of him.

Mike's arms gave out and he collapsed onto Harvey and they laid there panting for a few minutes. Harvey felt a tear slide down the side of his face from his relief. He slyly reached his hand up to whisk it away before Mike saw. He didn't want Mike reading into it wrong. Despite everything, he still had a personal war going on, and he finally felt like he had the upper hand.

After a few minutes had passed Mike regained strength in his arms and propped himself back up over Harvey. He slid his cock out gently, and grabbed a few tissues and cleaned up. Then he looked down at Harvey with a gentle smile. Harvey felt the emotion building up again so he kissed him to hide it. Mike pulled his face back and held Harvey's in his hands, and then gently leaned down and kissed the fresh tear that had slid down his face.

And with that Harvey finally let go, of all of the pain and sadness he had been harboring for so long. Mike gathered him into his arms and held him, rocking him gently as he cried. When he had finally released it, he was amazed at how much better he felt.

More importantly, he knew with every fiber of his being that he was in love with Mike, desperately, hopelessly and irrevocably. He fell asleep with that knowledge.


	8. Chapter 8

There was hell to pay come Monday morning. Even lazy Sunday sex didn't make him forget that he would have to pay the piper.

They had spent the weekend in bed like a pair of lovesick honeymooners and Harvey had felt completely blissed out when the alarm clock rang, then he saw Jessica's face in his mind.

"Oh fuck. It's Monday." He said into Mike's chest.

Mike chuckled softly and teased Harvey's hair.

"We could always call in sick, say we caught whatever Louis's date had."

Harvey snorted a laugh.

"Uh huh, yes I suppose I have the right to make his life miserable today, that makes up for the hell I'm going to catch from Jessica."

Harvey rose up on his elbow and kissed Mike deeply, gently biting his bottom lip as he pulled away. Then announced "I'm going to get in the shower" with a completely innocent expression on his face. He stood up and walked towards the bathroom and glanced only once to look back at Mike, still all innocence.

Mike pursed his lips and then grinned and jumped out of the bed and ran after him. Catching up with him in the shower, Harvey turned the water on and pushed Mike against the wall and kissed him hard. Then with a crook of his eyebrow slid to his knees. Mike was already hard from the initial kiss in bed and his eyes were like saucers seeing Harvey in that position. Harvey couldn't help but laugh, but stopped himself after a few seconds seeing the wounded look on Mike's face.

Then he set to licking, sucking and nipping his way around Mike's cock, while Mike moaned and bucked and did everything he could to get Harvey to just put his cock in his mouth.

Harvey finally decided he'd teased enough and wrapped his fingers around the base before sliding his mouth down Mike's length. Mike hissed and his knees wobbled a little. Harvey used his free hand to steady him and then started sucking from base to tip, using his hand to jack him off at the same time.

Mike was whimpering at this point and yelled obscenities as he came hard down Harvey's throat.

Harvey came up for air a few seconds later. Coughing a little.

"A little warning would have been good there."

Mike realized his faux pas and started apologizing profusely.

Harvey just laughed, they were still learning about each other, it would take time.

Mike pulled him back up to his feet and kissed him before pushing him against the wall and sliding down to return the favour. For as inexperienced as the kid could seem sometimes, he sure as hell knew how to suck him off.

Harvey had to hold on to the shower bar to prevent himself from losing control.

Panting hard, he didn't get much time himself to warn Mike of his impending orgasm before it was happening, but Mike just took it in stride.

Harvey slid down to the floor with Mike after and leaned against him while the shower pounded down on them.

"You sure you don't want to call in sick?"

Harvey chuckled, "do I want to? Yes. Can I? Abso-fucking-lutely not."

Mike laughed in return.

They finished showering and went to get dressed.

* * *

Harvey's phone started buzzing before they had even got to the car downstairs. Jessica made it clear that he was to be in the boardroom first, before he did anything else.

Harvey wrinkled his brows at that, why the boardroom? Why not her office?

He puzzled on this on the car ride over, only listening with half his mind to Mike chattering away about the case he was working on. Another pro bono Louis had dumped on him, rather unceremoniously.

When he reached the boardroom, all his questions were answered. Veronica Price was situated at the table next to Jessica. So she had managed to convince her to come in anyway, despite his behaviour. No harm done then, he thought and went to join them.

Upon greeting Veronica politely and shaking her hand, he felt Jessica giving him signals with her eyes, and realized she wanted him to also apologize for himself. Not liking being treated like a 4 year old, he ignored her hints entirely and sat down.

"So, fill me in."

Jessica gave him a quick glare but then resumed her usual business grace.

"Veronica has decided to join us here at Pearson Hardman as a Senior Partner."

Harvey had a feeling this was not going to be beneficial to him. He didn't like competing with Louis over cases, it made him feel inferior, but to compete with someone who just showed up and bought in, that seemed downright insulting. But he wanted to avoid another social error so kept his feelings to himself.

Jessica was clearly testing him anyway, to see how he would react, he wasn't going to give her the pleasure.

Veronica, for her part, was throwing a lot of signals of her own. Her tight-fitting button down shirt was open one button too far, and the skirt she was wearing made it clear she wore nothing underneath. She was making a rather big show of flipping her long auburn hair and stretching her body to make it the most appealing.

Harvey just cocked his head to the side in amusement. "Well that's good news, welcome to the firm Veronica, I'm sure it will be a pleasure working with you."

Veronica, quite unabashedly, batted her eyelashes and gave him a rather flirtatious smile before replying. "Thank you Harvey, I look forward to working with you too. I know Jessica thinks I joined this firm because of its amazing reputation and clientele but frankly, I'm here because of you, I want to learn from the master."

It took all of his self control not to roll his eyes at her, he had caught the drift, and he wasn't biting.

"I'm sure your already a fantastic lawyer, you have nothing to learn from me that you don't already know, now if you will excuse me, I have some business to attend to."

He nodded at Jessica as he rose and left the room. He caught Veronica's look of shock as he left, she must not be used to being turned down he thought, she's in for a real wake up call then.

Donna gave him a smirk as he passed, obviously she knew what was going on with Veronica. He stopped and turned back to her.

"If you knew, why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"We don't talk much anymore remember? And besides, I'm sure you handled her well."

Her expression told him that she had expected him to take the bait. Assuming that Harvey would be intrigued by the woman and leave Mike in the dust. She also, was in for a shock.

"I did, she now knows to stay the hell out of my way."

With a quick smirk at Donna's open-mouthed expression, he went into his office to stop Mike from entirely devouring the pen he was chewing on in thought.

This worried him, and he realized that Mike had seemed concerned in the car about the case and now he was feeling rather guilty about not listening.

"What's going on Mike?"

"I told you, this case is bigger than Louis thought, this guy I'm supposed to be representing has gang ties, he wants to talk about several murders he knows about in exchange for getting a good deal, and protection."

"I'm sorry, refresh me, I wasn't listening in the car." Harvey smiled apologetically at him, he felt really bad. Mike gave him an exasperated look but accepted the apology. Harvey sat down next to him on the couch and gently squeezed his knee.

"The guy I have was arrested for trafficking. It was a minor amount, but because he has priors, he's definitely looking at time. He wants to avoid that because there are members of rival gangs in jail already and he knows he'll be taken out the moment he walks through the door."

"Hold on a second, since when are we dealing with petty drug crime?"

"Since he's one of Louis's clients kids."

"He's a rich kid in a gang?"

"Yeah, they are a pretty big outfit, a bunch of rich kids who decided they liked pretending to be gangsters but all of a sudden really were."

"Complete with all the trappings"

"Exactly, in my client's case, I don't think he had any idea how deep he was getting himself in, and now he's panicking."

"What the hell makes him think that snitching will be a good idea? Protection isn't one hundred percent."

"I've tried explaining that to him, and done everything I can to convince the prosecutor to be lenient because of circumstances, but he's not budging."

"Yeah, they aren't about to let a rich kid buy his way out of trouble."

"What do I do?"

Harvey hummed in though, running his index finger across his chin.

"What kind of evidence is there against him?"

"Circumstantial at best, but his record is stacking the odds against him."

"Is the kid likable?"

"Yeah, he seems alright, just a kid who made some bad decisions, but nice enough."

"Go to trial."

"What?" Mike was gob smacked.

"Go to trial. Your best bet is taking a chance with the jury, if the evidence is shaky, this is your best chance at winning. You will still have to deal with a prosecutor with pre-conceived notions, but you will have 12 people who you can convince, and they will matter more."

"You never go to trial."

"I'm a corporate lawyer Mike, I never have to because I can win without doing so."

Harvey gave him his winning smile and Mike laughed.

"Don't you dare take this to trial!"

They both jumped at hearing Louis's voice behind them.

"I'm sorry Louis, since when do you give advice on a criminal case?"

"Shut up Harvey, my client wants this dealt with immediately to avoid further public embarrassment, I'm not going to allow you to drag it through a trial, threatening my clients business."

Harvey cocked his head at Louis slightly and rolled his eyes at him.

"You gave this case to Mike, if you were so concerned you should have done it yourself. By the way, why is this pro bono when your client is perfectly capable of paying?"

Louis shifted uncomfortably.

"Because, I gave it to his as a freebie to keep his loyalty to me for his business affairs."

Harvey stared at him hard.

"Is Jessica aware of this little arrangement?"

Louis glared back.

"No."

"I didn't think so. Here's the deal Louis, this case is bigger than you thought, and if you want your clients son to remain alive, you will let us take it to trial. However, if you and your client are ok with his son being murdered in jail, then by all means, let's just cop a plea and send him off."

Louis's face turned puce. "There is no way in hell I'm letting a rookie take a case like this to trial by himself."

"Are you offering your services?" Mike started to protest this idea immediately, but Harvey put up his hand to stop him while staring at Louis intently.

Louis was getting flustered now "I have no experience in that, you know that Harvey."

"Ahh, so you admit it. Well, I do. So no worries, I'll take it. But listen carefully, none of this bullshit comes Mike's way again, do you hear me?"

Both Mike and Louis started at Harvey raising his voice suddenly, but he was pissed, how dare Louis think that he could just shove this off on Mike knowing how much would ride on it.

Louis considered his answer carefully and took too long, so Harvey decided to really make himself clear and stood up, getting into his face.

"I said; do you hear me?" He yelled.

Louis was visibly shaken by this development and nodded quickly before turning on his heel and scuttling out the door. Harvey watched him go and then noticed that Veronica was standing by the door, watching this entire exchange. She smirked at him and gave him a little flirtatious wink. Harvey was most certainly not in the mood for this bullshit and strode forward and closed his office door glaring at her. She looked completely flummoxed but he just turned his back on her and went back to Mike.

"Um, Harvey? What's going on? Why are you so pissed?"

"Because this is a garbage case that Louis set up perfectly for you to fail at."

Mike nodded slowly, recognizing this fact. "If I got the deal for any amount of time, the kid would die. If I didn't get the deal, the kid would die. It was lose-lose for me."

"Exactly, and that would be on you, not him."

Mike sighed softly and picked up the paperwork and handed it to Harvey.

Harvey started reading, trying to work out their best strategy to winning this case. The last thing they should consider was letting the kid snitch, but if they could the shaky evidence thrown out, then the kid would stand a chance of living through this. Harvey wasn't sure why he gave such a damn about this kid, but he felt for him, he had just gotten mixed up with the wrong people and done the wrong thing, but it didn't mean he was necessarily bad.

Then it hit him, the story was vaguely familiar and he remembered Mike walking into his interview that day with a briefcase full of drugs.

Mike really had taken over his every thought, he was seeing him everywhere and in everything. And he wasn't entirely sure he was that bothered by that fact.


	9. Chapter 9

The trial wasn't easy. But Harvey managed to get about ninety percent of the evidence thrown out before the jury saw it, essentially knocking the legs out from under the prosecutions case. The prosecutor looked as though he had shit his pants when Harvey strolled into the courtroom on the first day and sat next to the accused.

Convincing the kid to let him represent him during the trial had been fairly easy since Mike had already developed a rapport with him and gave Harvey a glowing review.

Mike had jumped all over the case double fold since Harvey had come on board and Harvey had to remind him that he was already very impressed with Mike and didn't need more convincing. But he knew that as usual, Mike was emotionally invested, he really cared what happened to the kid and oddly enough, so did Harvey.

Mike's work had turned up a major coup for them as well. He had found security footage showing gaping holes in the story of the prosecutions star witness. Harvey had held on to this information for as long as he would be legally allowed, waiting until the right tactical moment to unleash it.

And now they had an hour to kill for the prosecution to go over the video. The judge had barely allowed the evidence into the trial at all, but Harvey's careful planning had paid off and now they waited. He was feeling fairly confident that his little strategy had worked, an hour was barely enough time to really go over the evidence and formulate any kind of plan.

So now he and Mike were bored, in the courthouse with an hour to kill. Harvey started just walking the halls, trying to keep his head in the game until Mike suddenly grabbed his arm and yanked him into a conference room.

"Mike? What are we doing in…" His question was cut off by Mike's mouth on his, giving in quickly and hungrily to the kiss, Harvey no longer needed an answer. Coming up for breath finally, Mike gave him a sly look and starting undoing Harvey's pants.

"Whoa! What the hell are you doing? There's no lock on that door and we are in the fucking courthouse." Harvey's attempts at stopping Mike's busy hands were really only half hearted, because he was not opposed to Mike's idea, but extremely concerned they would get caught.

Mike stopped and considered for a second, then grabbed Harvey's arms and swung him around so that he was now leaning against the door.

"There, now we'll know if someone is coming in right?"

Harvey couldn't help but laugh and then gasp as Mike's hand closed around his cock.

Mike slid down to his knees and gently kissed Harvey's stomach and hips and everywhere but where Harvey really wanted him to. With another sly look Mike finally took him into his mouth and Harvey groaned in appreciation and then stopped. He had to remind himself to be quiet, but Mike was making that awfully difficult. His ministrations with his hands and his tongue were making Harvey speak a completely different language and it didn't take long before he was coming hard into Mike's mouth. All the pent up energy of the trial not making him last too long, not to mention the sheer glory of Mike on his knees before him with his cock in his mouth, that was certainly helpful.

Mike stood back up and kissed him hard. Their hands exploring each other and Mike started removing more of Harvey's clothes.

"Mike," Harvey had to stop to breath.

"Do you want to?" And the sly look was back.

"Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I want to, but we are going to need something to keep this door closed because we can't exactly fuck against the door, the noise would be pretty obvious."

"Oh, yeah, you're right." Mike quickly scanned the room and then grabbed the nearest chair and dragged it over and under the door handle.

"Good?"

Harvey smiled his own sly smile, and grabbing Mike's lapels pulled him in and kissed him hungrily. They danced about the room, stripping, kissing and exploring each other anew. When Mike steered Harvey toward the desk in the room, Harvey responded with a resounded "No." He felt Mike tense when he realized his mistake, but Harvey simply pulled him down to the carpet behind the desk. He didn't want to think about how dirty that carpet was; at that point it didn't matter.

It occurred to Harvey then that they might need something important to make this happen comfortably and as though he was reading his mind, Mike grabbed his coat from where it had landed on the floor and pulled the bottle of lube out.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Asked Harvey incredulously.

"I might have." Mike grinned at him.

"You devious bastard" Harvey laughed.

Mike responded with another kiss and began kissing and biting at Harvey's neck and down to his nipples. He poured some lube onto his fingers and slowly starting working Harvey's ass, taking his time despite Harvey's grumbling. The blowjob had been fantastic but he was certainly not near sated yet and wanted Mike desperately right then. Mike of course, was taking his sweet ass time.

"You do realize we have only an hour right?"

Mike laughed, and slipped the first finger in. Harvey moaned and bit down on his bottom lip. As Mike's continued to lick and nip at his nipples he slid another finger in, stretching Harvey to be ready. Harvey always appreciated that Mike was so careful with him, despite his desperate need right then, he knew Mike was taking his time so that he wouldn't hurt him, Mike had always promised that he would never hurt him and had kept that promise.

Mike's fingers hit his sweet spot and Harvey's hips bucked up as he hissed in response.

"Now." Was the only word he could get out.

Mike didn't waste any time after that. He grabbed the bottle of lube again and poured an ample amount onto his own cock before positioning himself between Harvey's legs.

As Harvey looked up at him, he knew in that moment that his life was perfect. Despite everything, he was completely and totally in love with this man and he could see the same emotion on Mike's face looking down at him.

Mike lowered himself down and kissed Harvey gently as he started to slip inside of him. Harvey gasped in his mouth as he reacquainted himself with Mike.

When Mike had finally slid all the way in they stayed still for a few seconds, enjoying the feeling of being joined like this. Then Mike started to move slowly, each movement making Harvey pant out a breath.

He knew Mike wasn't going to last long, for all of his procrastinating on getting to this point, he could feel Mike throbbing inside of him.

The head of Mike's cock hit his prostate and Harvey bucked and moaned. Mike did it again, panting hard in Harvey's ear. As they found their rhythm they picked up speed. With the hand that wasn't supporting his weight, Mike grasped Harvey's cock between them and stroked it in the same rhythm as his thrusts.

With each hit of his prostate Harvey panted until his body shuddered and he came in Mike's hand. It only took Mike another thrust before he was gasping and shuddering himself inside of Harvey.

Mike then collapsed onto Harvey and they lay there panting for a few minutes as they returned to earth.

Harvey reached a hand up and gently played with Mike's hair while the younger man sighed with his cheek on Harvey's chest.

Then it hit Harvey how insane what they had just done was.

"I cannot believe you just fucked me in the courthouse."

"It's as good a place as any as far as I'm concerned."

Harvey laughed, he knew Mike was ready to go anywhere, anytime. Harvey usually preferred to be more discreet, but Mike had an uncanny ability to make him come unglued.

They both were still laughing when the door handle shook and they both tensed with fear that the chair wouldn't hold. They heard voices outside the door and looked at each other.

"Shit!"

"We better get dressed."

Mike nodded quickly and slid out of Harvey as gently as he could, Harvey still gasped from the lingering sensitivity and then they both worked as quickly as possible at cleaning up and getting dressed.

Harvey knew his hair was probably a mess, he ran his hands over it trying to get it back to as normal as possible. He hoped that it wouldn't look too post-coital to anyone.

Once they were both dressed they stealthily stood at the door listening hard.

Without thinking, Harvey looked at Mike and as they stared into each others eyes he couldn't help but say it.

"I love you."

Mike smiled softly and leaned forward and kissed him gently.

"I love you too."

It was Harvey's turn to smile softly and as they kissed again he felt completely and totally in bliss. He had no idea he could feel anything like this, nothing else mattered at that moment, he didn't even care if they lost the case. Mike was his, he loved him and Mike loved him back.

The kissing intensified again and Harvey almost laughed thinking they might be about to have a repeat performance until he heard the court paging him back.

"Shit. We should go, but we will continue this later."

Mike smiled and nodded.

"At a more appropriate place I might add." Laughed Harvey.

"Oh stop it, you liked the danger and you know it."

With that they opened the door a crack and peered around to see if anyone was about and then slipped out and down the hall back to the courtroom.

Harvey knew he was grinning like an idiot but he couldn't help it.

* * *

The prosecutor looked like thunder when they went back into the courtroom. Clearly he could see his entire case had unraveled despite the obvious guilt of Harvey's client.

The jury was only out for twenty minutes before they came back with the not guilty verdict.

As they were leaving with their jubilant client, Harvey noticed Louis sitting in the back row. He might have been mistaken, but he thought he saw Louis give him a thankful look.

This was confirmed when Louis pulled him aside outside the courtroom.

"Harvey," Louis gave him a contrite look, "thank you."

"I thought this case wasn't a big deal for you?" Harvey thought about milking Louis's obvious discomfort with this conversation but changed his mind, Mike's influence having an effect on him.

Louis sighed. "I didn't want to tell you that, but yes, it was. His father has been my client for a while, but my friend for years, I have known that kid myself since he was a baby, and I want you to know, I gave the case to Mike because he was honestly the only one I could trust with it, the only one who could possibly come up with any way to get a good result, even if it meant he had to enlist you."

Harvey realized that Louis truly meant this, and Harvey couldn't help but agree.

"Mike found the security footage, so it would seem you were right about him."

"You got the rest of the evidence thrown out, so I guess I owe both of you one."

Harvey couldn't resist and cocked his head to the side.

"Be careful Louis, I might collect on that."

Louis scowled at him a bit, but then laughed softly and held out his hand.

Harvey shook it in a friendly manner, this really was a win for all of them.

He had no delusions that Louis wouldn't go back to normal within the hour, but the moment of comradery was kind of fun.


	10. Chapter 10

Mike had rather developed a taste for the public tryst. The courthouse had been just the beginning of him pushing the limits of them getting caught. Harvey didn't mind too much, the element of danger was certainly exciting, but it was always in the back of his mind that one day, trouble would hit. It almost did when they were making out on the elevator and again when Mike's hand had traveled up Harvey's thigh under the table at a meeting, not to mention the amount of times they locked the door on the bathroom. Mike had always apologized after and said he wouldn't do it again, but he always did.

So it really came as no surprise when one day they were in the library, Mike had shut Harvey up with his mouth on his as he was teasing him about something or another. Harvey hadn't fought him, Mike's mouth was far to delectable, but when they heard the gasp behind them, their eyes had met with panic before they turned slowly to see who it was.

Harvey silently prayed it was some underling he could pay off easily, or even Rachel, because she was good hearted and would likely keep their secret when they explained.

But of course, it had to be the worst, the smug moon face and beady eyes of Louis Litt.

"Hello gentlemen, this is certainly an interesting development isn't it."

"Louis, let me explain..." before Harvey could finish Louis turned on his heel and headed towards the door, "let's see what Jessica thinks, shall we," he spit over his shoulder.

Mike started after him, but Harvey knew this was something he had to take care of. He put a hand on Mike's chest and told him to go back to the office and stay there.

"But Harvey, this is my fault, I'll fix it."

"First of all, it's not entirely your fault, and secondly, you can't fix it. Only I can, just go to the office."

Harvey started after Louis and caught up with him outside the elevator where Louis stood dancing impatiently with his own self-important excitement, all friendly comradery forgotten.

Harvey stood calmly next to him, knowing full well that would only make Louis more anxious. Harvey was going over every scenario in his head, trying to figure out how to handle this, but only one thing seemed obvious as the right thing to do. He waited until the door closed after they had gotten on the elevator before he turned to Louis.

"Louis, I need you to do me a favour."

"If it's to not tell Jessica about what I just saw, forget it pal, you know there are rules about inter-office relationships right? You've just ruined your career you know, taking up with him, it's just wrong."

"I'm sorry Louis, that was a bit homophobic you know, you do realize there are rules against discrimination in this office as well, perhaps I should take that up with Jessica myself."

Louis looked sheepish for a second.

"Listen, the favour I'm asking is for you to let me tell Jessica myself."

Louis looked suspicious.

"Oh right, I agree to this and watch you walk into her office under the guise of 'telling her'" he quoted with his fingers, "and then you proceed to discuss the weather with her. Not a fucking chance Harvey."

"No, Louis, that's not the plan, you can come right into her office and hear me tell her if that's what you want. But she is one of my oldest friends and I really think this is something that should come from me."

Louis stared at him hard, considering.

"Listen, I knew I would have to tell her eventually, I suppose now is as good a time as any. So please, do me this favour."

"For a thousand bucks."

"I beg your pardon."

"You heard me, a thousand bucks. If I'm going to lose the joy of telling her myself I want something in return."

"How about the joy that comes from doing something nice for someone else, you know, the milk of human kindness."

"How long have you known me? I want money."

Harvey briefly considered shoving Louis's head in-between the closing elevator doors but decided it would only cause more trouble.

"Remember how you owe me one, after that little win I pulled off at that trial a few weeks ago?"

"No no, I will decide when I repay you for that."

Harvey sighed in exasperation, he was really the most difficult human being on the planet.

"Fine, but you get your money only after I have told her and you have kept your mouth shut through it."

Louis smirked smugly. "Fine. Deal."

They walked in silence down the hall to Jessica's office. She looked surprised when they both entered and Louis stood there bouncing with glee. Harvey closed the door behind him softly and turned to her. It was time to rip off the bandage.

"Jessica, I have something to tell you, I'm sorry for keeping it from you this long, but I'm hoping you'll understand why I did."

Louis loudly cleared his throat and Harvey turned to him with his index finger on his lips in the 'shhh' motion.

Louis glared at him, but quieted.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jessica demanded.

"I'm in a relationship with Mike."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Yes, you're his mentor, as you've stated many times."

"Yes, I mean more of a romantic relationship."

Jessica's mouth fell open.

"Louis here caught us sharing a private moment in the library and felt you should know. There is more to the story, but," Harvey turned to Louis with his wallet out, "Louis, I have held up my end of the bargain and told her. Here is your money you can go now."

Louis's mouth opened and closed a few times as he glared at Harvey.

Jessica came out of her shock long enough to ask "Louis, did you make Harvey pay you to keep your mouth shut?"

Louis looked from Harvey to Jessica a few times before sneering at Harvey and storming out of the room, leaving Harvey standing there holding the money.

Harvey's smugness over getting one over on the little bastard was short lived. He knew his conversation with Jessica was only beginning.

"Harvey, start talking."

"Let's sit down first."

Jessica started to protest but decided to play by his rules.

Harvey stared hard at his hands, now that he was here, he really didn't know how to begin. Jessica sensed his discomfort and started for him.

"Harvey, I think it's safe to say that I have suspected something between you two for a few months now. I have noticed that you've ignored every advance Veronica has made."

"Do you remember four months ago when my office was broken into?"

Harvey realized he had just blurted that out, but he was quickly losing his nerve, talking about this was still very hard for him, but he knew he should tell her, while they usually made efforts to keep their private lives to themselves, she was a dear friend and he trusted her.

She looked a little confused but nodded.

"It wasn't broken into necessarily..." Harvey realized he needed to go further back in the story here. He took a deep shaky breath.

"Do you remember Marvin Seller?"

"The Russian weirdo? Yeah, I still can't believe you managed to get him out of the country." She laughed.

"Yeah, he's back in the country."

Jessica stopped laughing.

"What? How the hell did he manage that?" She sounded incredulous.

"I don't know."

"Wait, so you're saying he's the one who broke into your office."

"Yes, while I was in there. He wanted revenge," Harvey laughed sourly and added quietly "he still wants revenge."

"Harvey, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Seller and two of his good friends came to my office that night and…" Harvey attempted to swallow the lump in his throat in vain, finally whispering "they raped me Jessica."

Jessica's mouth hung open again for the second time in only a few minutes. She stared at him for a few minutes and then at the table in disbelief.

He could tell she was trying to figure out if he was kidding or not, but something on his face must have convinced her that he was being deadly serious.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" She suddenly sat forward, like he had punched her in the stomach. "Why didn't you go to the police?" The pieces were all falling together in her mind.

"Same answer for both questions, shame."

"But Harvey… I really don't know what to say right now."

"I'm not expecting anything from you."

"So, when you passed out and were gone for 2 days, it was because of…" she trailed off.

"Yes, and it was you who sent Mike home with me. If it wasn't for him Jessica, I'm not really sure where I would be right now." The lump rose back up his throat.

"I sent him to take care of you, I thought you were sick."

Harvey laughed softly

"He did, it's not nearly as weird as it sounds, he's been my best friend through this, helping me understand that it wasn't my fault and recently, making me feel real happiness again." Harvey paused for a moment. "I love him, more than I have ever loved anyone."

Jessica's face softened. He knew she finally understood it all.

"I can see that, and I suspect he feels the same way about you."

Harvey smiled softly again.

"But Harvey, you can't just let Seller get away with this, you said he wanted revenge like he's coming back, are you in danger."

"I honestly don't know." He could hear his voice shaking. "I just want to try to put this behind me and move on." He knew this sounded a little hollow. He attempted to dry his palms on his pants.

"Harvey, I understand that, so I won't push it, but I'm hiring more security, and if you need anything, you let me know ok?" She squeezed his arm reassuringly. He knew that the discussion wasn't entirely over, she wasn't going to just forget about it, but she could see Harvey's struggle at the moment, so she decided leave it be for the time being.

"Thanks, and again, I'm sorry for keeping this from you."

"That's alright, I understand, though you might have wanted to be more careful about letting Louis find out."

"Yes, that is regrettable" Harvey rubbed his forehead, exasperated. "I'm sure he's having a field day right now."

"It's likely too late for me to stop him."

"Yes, most definitely."

"How much does he know?"

"Just about Mike and I, and I intend on keeping it that way."

"Don't worry, I certainly won't be sharing, you can trust me."

"Thanks."

They returned to their normal state as friends, steel Harvey re-establishing. He was getting better at being vulnerable, thanks to Mike, but this was only the second time he had told someone about the attack and he was churning inside from the memories.

Jessica changed the subject, and Harvey assumed it was on purpose.

"There is the matter of the rule you are both breaking, we need to discuss that."

He knew what she was talking about; he had helped her draft the firm's policies on relationships within the office.

"We've been together like this for a month and it hasn't affected my ability to win cases."

"It's safe to say you have been dealing with a lot for over four months and you have still been on top of your cases just fine." She paused, considering. "So I guess you have my blessing as your boss, but you will need to go to HR to fill out the forms, declaring your relationship and signing the disclosure."

"Yes, I know, we'll do that this afternoon."

"Ok, you better go find Mike before they all descend on him."

Harvey laughed nervously, and stood up. Before he opened the door he turned to her seriously.

"Thank you. For being understanding. I know everything I just told you sounds completely insane, but I couldn't make this shit up if I tried honestly," he chuckled humorlessly, "but it does mean a lot to me that you are behind me."

Jessica smiled softly and then he walked out.

Judging by the dead silence and stares as he passed, Louis had gotten word out quite quickly. Veronica openly gaped at him as he passed; she almost looked insulted that he would choose Mike over her.

He just ignored her and walked as fast as he could to the safety of Mike in his office.

Donna stared at him gob smacked as he passed, he decided to deal with her later; he was shaking inside and needed Mike to reassure him at that moment.

Mike, for his part, was pacing a hole in the carpet, gripping one of Harvey's basketballs.

"That better be Kobe or you're in trouble." Harvey attempted levity, but failed miserably.

Mike dropped the ball and it bounced away.

"Harvey, your back, how did it go, Louis just can't keep his mouth shut can he."

Mike looked at Harvey's face and immediately came towards him.

"No, stop, we've already got eyes on us, it's best we keep the floor show minimal right now."

Mike understood.

"What did you do?"

"Convinced Louis to let me tell Jessica everything myself."

"Seriously, Louis went along with that."

"I had to be a little devious about it."

Mike smiled a little.

"Yeah, that would explain why he's pissed."

Mike considered for a moment.

"What do you mean told her everything, you told her about…"

Harvey was nodding before he could finish his question.

"Harvey, you didn't actually have to tell her about that, I'm sure just a short explanation about us would have sufficed."

"I wanted to tell her Mike, I hated keeping secrets from her, she's one of my oldest friends."

Mike nodded silently. Harvey knew he would understand. Then Mike turned his head slightly, looking at Donna who still had her mouth open and was staring straight at them.

"Umm, what's your plan with Donna?"

"Same as Jessica."

"Seriously?"

"Mike, they have had my back for years, and they will continue to do so, not that it makes the confession any easier."

"Are you having flashbacks again? Maybe I should tell her, you should take a break."

"No, no, she won't understand if it's you telling her, I just need some time."

The phone on Harvey's desk buzzed.

"That will be HR, we have some forms to fill out."

Recognition dawned on Mike's face and he put his hand in his hair.

"Oh shit, we're breaking a big rule aren't we, fuck, I had forgotten about that."

"Relax, it's fine, we just have to fill out a disclosure form, Jessica has approved the relationship and won't be pursuing the issue further unless it interferes with our cases."

Mike took his hand out of his hair and relaxed, though his hair now stood completely on end.

Harvey answered the phone and told the person on the other line they would be right down.

"Let's go get this over with."

They might as well have been walking down the hall naked for the expressions they were getting. Louis looked smug as a pig in shit as they passed; Harvey just ignored him. He could feel Mike fidgeting beside him, but he kept his own outward calm and stared down anyone ballsy enough to look him in the face.

Once on the elevator, they were alone for a few minutes and Harvey let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding and found Mike's hand with his own.

"Be honest Harvey, are you ok?"

"No, not really, but I will be."

Mike squeezed his hand meaningfully then let go before the doors opened and they faced a whole new set of eyes staring at them.

The papers were really a technicality at this point since Jessica had already given consent. The HR guy had handed them to each of them with his eyes wide. They had filled them out and signed them as fast as possible to get the hell out of there and then headed back upstairs to the office to finish working on the deal they had been working on before Louis had walked in on them, desperate to get back to normal.

Donna now stared at Harvey full on with an expression that demanded he explain himself. He went into the office with Mike behind him and headed to the table and sat down. Rubbing his temples with his fingers he heard Mike sit down next to him.

Mike squeezed his arm. "Let's just focus on this for now, the rest of the world can wait."

"Donna can't" Harvey stated.

"She will have to"

"No, she shouldn't have to, I might as well get this over with."

Mike sighed, and nodded and stood back up.

"Do you want me to stay?"

"No, why don't you go back to the library and get the book we were after in the first place."

Mike looked down sheepishly.

"Harvey, I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry, I shouldn't have done that here in the office, it was stupid."

Harvey cut him off.

"It's ok, it's not like I pushed you off, I love you Mike, and trust me when I tell you I want you just as badly all the time as well, but we do need to work on your kinky public desires." Harvey smirked at him and crooked his eyebrow up playfully.

Mike couldn't help but laugh, and added "I love you too" after.

He opened the door, and Harvey heard him announce to Donna that Harvey would see her now, like Harvey was some sort of royalty. Harvey chuckled. Mike always knew how to make him feel better.

Donna's face was like thunder by the time she came in and she openly glared at Harvey now.

"Donna, sit down."

"What the fuck Harvey, you gave me shit a month ago about asking if you were in love with him, and now I find out your with him and you lied to me."

"Donna, sit down." He repeated.

She glared a few seconds more, but then relented and plopped down, crossing her arms angrily over her chest and jutting out her chin.

"I wasn't lying then, we weren't together when you and I talked."

"But you are together now"

"Yes, we are now. There is a lot more to this though, and I need to you please understand."

Something about his voice seemed to make her soften and she relaxed her arms.

Telling her turned out to be easier than it was with Jessica, perhaps because Donna knew him more on a personal level. By the time he was finished she had moved to the chair next to him and was gripping his hand.

"I need you to let up on Mike, he basically saved my life after that night, and he is now everything to me."

"I see that, it's ok, I'm actually really happy he was there for you, and I'm glad you are happy now." She smiled warmly at him and then pulled him into a hug. "I'm here for you too, don't forget that."

The door opened and Mike re-entered with the book in hand.

Donna smiled at him as she watched him check Harvey over with his eyes to make sure he was ok. Clearly she understood the depth of their feelings for each other.

She stood up and walked quickly over to Mike and pulled him in for a hug as well. Mike stood there holding the book in one hand and his other hanging awkwardly in the air, looking completely shocked at Harvey.

Harvey couldn't help but laugh out loud when she kissed Mike on the cheek and he turned red.

"It's ok Mike, I'm sorry for being a bitch to you for the last few months. Thank you for taking care of him." With that, she turned and left.

Mike continued to stand there perplexed.

"She understands now Mike, I told you she wasn't unreasonable"

Mike laughed softly, breaking his expression and came over to sit next to Harvey. Quickly checking no one was looking, he pecked Harvey quickly on the mouth.

They got to work then, returning to their little cocoon as usual.


	11. Chapter 11

For some time Harvey had made it a rule that they didn't stay in the office late. Mike had always gone along with this rule, he could see how nervous it made Harvey when he thought they were the last in the building. The extra security Jessica had promised to hire hadn't happened yet because of budgeting issues, so it seemed easiest to just get out of the office with everyone else and return to Harvey's super secure apartment.

When a corporate merger had turned messy, this became more difficult. They had boxes and boxes of evidence and material to go through and trucking it back to Harvey's apartment every night to keep working seemed ludicrous.

Mike repeatedly reassured him that they were fine, he was with him, but he could tell Harvey wasn't buying it.

Mike had been labouring under the view that it was incredibly unlikely for Seller to come back to Harvey's office if he wanted to seek more revenge. He assumed, rightly or wrongly, that Seller would be more creative next time. The thought of them coming after Harvey again always made him incredibly angry, though he never told Harvey what he was really thinking about when he clenched his fists in bed at night or during a meeting, He just couldn't get the thought out of his mind that this wasn't over. He knew Harvey was dealing with the same issue though it made him fearful rather than angry.

Mike was thinking about it again that evening as they sat in the office surrounded by mountains of paper and boxes. He had crumpled the paper he was holding and Harvey was regarding him with a mixture of confusion and concern on his face.

Mike realized what he was doing and relaxed.

"Sorry, just can't believe these bastards hid all of this from us."

The lie was transparent and he could see Harvey's eyebrow creep up in question but he let it go.

He smiled softly at Harvey to assure him he was fine and straightened out the sheet of paper and glanced at his watch. It was pushing 11:30 at night. He noticed Harvey glancing at his own watch and could see the worry in his brow.

"Do you want to go? We're both tired and we can finish this tomorrow."

"We are already weeks behind, and we've only been at it for a few days."

Harvey sighed and sat back on the couch, regarding the mess.

"Jessica understands; I'm sure she will find a way to get us more time." He got up and moved over next to Harvey, clearing a stack of files away first. He slid his arm around Harvey's shoulders and pulled him against his chest. Harvey started tracing his fingers on Mike's thigh. These were Mike's favourite moments, the times when they would just sit quiet together. He had never known he could feel this strongly about anyone, but the last few months had given him a new perspective.

"We should get back to work if we are hoping to get any sleep tonight." Harvey picked up the file he was working on and started flipping the pages, clearly not reading it thoroughly.

Mike kissed and then nibbled his earlobe, thinking that both sleep and work could wait, there were certainly more entertaining things they could do right now. He felt Harvey smile against his cheek and then he turned his head into the kiss.

The loud thump behind them made them both jump about three feet in the air. Harvey grabbed Mike in panic and they both turned to see what had happened. A box lay on its side on the floor, spilling it contents of files like dominos on the floor.

"Who left a box that close to the edge of the table?" Mike smiled at the question, starting to laugh at their reaction, until he looked at Harvey, who was shaking and almost hyperventilating. He quickly gathered him up in his arms.

"Shhh, it's ok, it was just a box. Take some deep breaths." Then stating "We are going home." It wasn't worth having Harvey this upset.

Harvey calmed down quickly, and laughed a little at himself. Closing his eyes he rubbed his face.

"Sorry, that was a bit of an overreaction to a box, wasn't it?" Harvey laughed nervously.

"You have good reason, let's go home." Mike stood up and went to get his coat and bag, as well as Harvey's scarf and coat. Going home seemed the best plan; Harvey would feel more secure and since they weren't taking work with them, they would have to amuse themselves some other way. He was smiling to himself when he heard Harvey gasp behind him and turned to see what was wrong and stared straight down the barrel of a gun.

It took him a few seconds to tear his gaze away from it to fully take in the situation.

There were three men now in the office, none of which he recognized, but he already knew who they were.

The two who were obviously the goons each had a gun drawn, one on him and the other goon on Harvey, the third man, who was clearly Seller had strolled into the room with a smirk on his face.

Mike glanced at Harvey who was visibly shaking, staring at Seller with panic.

"Hello again Harvey." Seller's voice was quite deep and sinister, the Russian accent making him seem like the bad guy from a comic book.

Mike's mind was working, he had to protect Harvey, the guns were posing a massive problem though, he didn't know how was he going to get around them.

Seller noticed him there and turned towards him, staring him right in the eye. A cold fear trickled down his spine at the expression on his face.

"Who do we have here? Another toy to play with boys." The two goons chuckled, and the one closest to him licked his lips.

"NO," Harvey suddenly lurched forward, panic on his face for Mike, "Leave him, this is about you and I Marvin, let him go."

The second goon cocked his gun at Harvey, warning him to stop moving, Mike mouthed 'stop' at him as well.

Seller turned slowly to meet Harvey and narrowed his eyes.

"He's an underling Harvey, I know you, since when do you care about them? I've always known you as the type to protect your own hide first."

Harvey stood tall, attempting to remain strong.

"He's a friend, and like I said, this is between you and me, I fight my own battles."

Seller smirked.

"What are you willing to give me in exchange for him Harvey?"

Mike realized where this was going and motioned at Harvey to not give in to it. He was stunned at how fast this was moving, and suddenly Harvey was facing an impossible ultimatum.

A few minutes passed in silence. Harvey stared at the floor, pain clearly etched on his face and it seemed to take forever before he finally looked up at Mike, the expression said I love you and goodbye all at once. He turned back to Seller and whispered, "what ever you want." The resignation in his voice was enough to make Mike break into full-blown panic. He started moving towards Harvey to stop him, shake him, just do something.

The goon nearest grabbed his arm and shoved the gun into his temple.

Seller watched this performance, he had clearly seen the expression on Harvey's face and recognition was dawning.

"He's your lover." He smiled.

Harvey avoided eye contact with him, choosing to stare intently at the carpet.

"Well then, this is very interesting, isn't it boys."

The goons nodded in concert.

The smile on Sellers face made Mike's stomach turn.

"Well Harvey, the good news is that I'm willing to accept your offer, your right, this is between us." Harvey closed his eyes and swallowed hard, knowing what was coming.

"NO" Mike yelled. Seller just started to laugh.

"Shush, shush little one, how would like to stick around and watch?"

Harvey's head snapped up, "no, that is not part of the deal, let him go, that was the deal."

"Interesting, I don't quite remember the terms that way myself."

Suddenly Seller punched Harvey in the stomach, hard enough to knock him to his hands and knees wheezing and coughing.

"Please, stop, don't hurt him, we'll pay you." Mike's legs were shaking; he wanted to get to Harvey so much to help him.

Seller turned with his eyebrow up.

"I don't want your money."

Harvey was still on his hands and knees on the floor and Seller reached down and grabbed his collar and pulled him up to just his knees, Harvey's face in his crotch. Mike saw where this was going and started fighting the iron fist on his arm, until the heel of the gun connected with his head and the room spun and he slumped and hung from the hand holding his arm. While he didn't entirely go out, it took him a minute to regain full consciousness and by that time Seller had undone his pants and was shoving his cock in Harvey's mouth.

Mike looked away; he knew that Harvey would not want him to watch. He heard Harvey gagging as Seller fucked his mouth and closed his eyes tight, as though that would also stop the sounds.

Seller grunted and finished in Harvey's mouth quickly and then let go of his collar. Mike heard Harvey throw up on the carpet.

"Didn't you watch little one, I would think you would enjoy watching him from a different angle, didn't it turn you on?" He had walked up to Mike at this point and was a few inches from face to face and put his hand on the front of Mike's pants, clearly trying to see if Mike was turned on. Without even thinking Mike spit in his face and glared hard at him. He heard Harvey say 'Mike, No' but remained defiant.

The jovial expression on Seller's face evaporated, now he was pissed. Mike still glared at him hard.

"Agreement null and void," he looked at each goon in turn while using Mike's tie to wipe the spit off his face. "Find another office for yourselves and him, Harvey's mine."

He turned back towards Harvey and pulled out his own gun.

Mike realized he was repeatedly saying no, no, no but couldn't stop. The other goon walked over and grabbed his other arm, staring at him lasciviously, but Mike could only think about Harvey. They started dragging him from the room and Harvey stood up panicked and started towards them. Seller put a firm hand on his chest and pointed the gun at his head before turning and purring to the goons. "Do whatever you want with him boys." Mike stared into Harvey's eyes and tried to tell him he loved him as best he could. Harvey got more panicked and started fighting against Seller to get to him, this in turned made Mike start fighting the two bastards holding him.

Seller raised the gun and hit Harvey right in the temple with the heel of it. The noise it made was sickening and Harvey collapsed lifeless onto the floor. Mike started screaming then, screaming Harvey's name over and over trying to get him to wake up. The goons resumed dragged him from the room while Mike thrashed and yelled.

The two gunshots completely stopped him dead in his tracks and everything started moving in slow motion it seemed. He listened hard, believing them to have come from Harvey's office, grief enveloped him and he felt like he couldn't breathe. But then he realized the two goons were no longer holding him, they were on the floor on either side of him, both groaning in pain. Mike looked down the hall in disbelief and saw Louis, gun still at the ready, walking towards him. Mike could only stare as Louis came at him with the gun seemingly pointing at him and then went past him, firing only one more shot through the glass door of Harvey's office. He heard Seller yell in shock.

Mike was reeling, and thought he might pass out, but then he regained his focus.

Harvey, he had to get to him, his paralysis disappearing he moved and started running to him. Louis was standing over Seller who was leaning against a chair holding his shoulder and glaring at Louis.

Mike barely paid them any attention and dove down to Harvey who was still in the same position he had fallen in. The amount of time that had passed was shorter than he thought, Seller hadn't even touched him yet. He touched Harvey's forehead, blood coating it from the wound, and then put two fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. When he located it, he exhaled the breath he was holding and started rubbing Harvey's shoulder, trying to get him to wake up. He heard Louis on the phone with 911 while he was kicking Seller's gun away from him. Mike suddenly remembered and turned to Louis, "the other two had guns as well." He sounded like a lunatic, his voice high and shaky.

Louis regarded him and then pointed to where he had moved the guns to on the floor.

"Oh." He relaxed that they were all unarmed now and turned back to Harvey, sliding down closer to him and wrapping his arm around his back in the only way he could hold him at the time. He didn't want to move Harvey too much, worried that his neck could be injured, the last thing he wanted to do was make anything worse.

He started getting impatient with how long it was taking for the ambulance to arrive. Glancing at the door every few seconds. Louis told him to relax; they were coming.

Then he heard a sound from Harvey, a soft, short groan and he went back down to him, ignoring everything else in the room. Harvey opened one eye slightly and peered at him for a second before closing it and sighing and whispering with relief "your ok, your ok."

"Yes, yes baby, I'm ok, are you ok?" All of the emotions reeling in his head making him use a term of endearment he had never used before with Harvey.

Harvey opened his eyes more and gave him a gentle look. "I'll be fine."

Mike kissed his cheek and rubbed his back, he could feel tears running down his face, relief overwhelming him.

He felt a hand on his arm, trying to lift him away from Harvey and he fought it gruffly and looked up to give hell to whoever it was, and met Louis's face.

"The paramedics need to get to him Mike, you have to give them some room."

Louis looked very sympathetic, which was a foreign expression for him, and Mike realized then that the room was full of police and EMT's at that moment. Seeing that Louis was right, he moved back from Harvey a bit, giving them room around his head, but he stayed by his side, gripping his hand. He felt Louis gently squeeze his shoulder before telling the EMT that Mike would be riding with Harvey to the hospital.

The next few minutes were a blur of Harvey being loaded onto the gurney and them traveling downstairs to the ambulance. Mike didn't even pay any attention to what was happening with their three attackers, he didn't even know if they were alive or dead. One tech kept attempting to look at the mark on Mike's head, but he kept waving her away angrily, telling her to worry about Harvey only. She finally gave up and helped her partner load Harvey into the back; Mike quickly following Harvey in, still gripping his hand. Harvey was more alert now and kept eye contact with Mike the entire time. Mike smiled at him lovingly, it was beginning to hit them both that they had made it out of this. Only 10 minutes ago he was sure they were both about to die, and now they were out alive. He knew that they would have months of recovery, Harvey in particular, but they were going to be ok.

Just as the door was closing he heard Jessica's voice yelling wait, and she came full tilt up into the ambulance.

"Harvey, oh my god, are you ok?"

Harvey smiled a little, the drying blood on his face making it tight.

"Yeah, a knock on the head, but I'll be ok." Harvey turned to Mike then, looking puzzled.

"What the hell happened? How are we…?"

Mike realized that Harvey had no idea that Louis was behind all of this.

"Louis. Evidently he keeps a gun in his office and was working late too."

Harvey's mouth dropped open a little and he looked actually quite touched.

The EMT ushered Jessica out so they could get going, she promised to meet them at the hospital and then they were moving.

Mike was realizing that the knock on his head might be a bit worse than he thought and the movement of the ambulance was making him nauseous and dizzy. He felt Harvey's hand squeezing his and Harvey was looking at him worried.

The EMT put a hand on Mike's chin and shined her light into his eyes. Jumping back from the light that made his head pound he glared at her and then it went black.


	12. Chapter 12

He could hear beeping and voices. He felt hands touching his head and someone with a deep voice giving orders. The fog was heavy but was beginning to clear and the only thing he could see was Harvey's face in his mind.

Harvey, where was he?

Mike opened his eyes and a doctor immediately flashed a light in them, measuring his reaction. The reaction he got was Mike smacking the light away and telling them to fuck off with the fucking lights.

Gaining more awareness he realized that he was in the hospital, but that meant so was Harvey right?

"Where is Harvey? I need to find him, where did you take him?" He started trying to sit up, wires and tubes impeding his progress. A nurse shoved him back down with little attempt at being friendly and gave him a stern look.

"Mr. Specter is having an MRI, sit still."

"I want to see him, take me to him."

"Mr. Ross, stay right there or I will restrain you. Your turn with the MRI is coming."

"I'm fine, just a bump on the head. I want to see Harvey."

"Mike," he heard Jessica's voice, "relax, he's ok, they are just checking his head, he was awake when they took him upstairs, that's good."

"Jessica, tell them to let me go, I'm fine."

"Mike, you probably have a concussion, just sit still, if you don't fight, this will go quicker."

Mike realized she was probably right as much as it pained him to stop fighting. Glancing around he could see he was in the ER and he could see Louis standing near the door. Suddenly he was emotional. He knew there was never going to be any possible way to thank him enough. He thought of all the times he had been mean to Louis or snapped at him and felt incredibly guilty. Louis clearly saw all of this crossing his face and just smiled and nodded at him, mouthing 'don't worry about it.'

Then the bed he was on started moving and he realized he was heading to the MRI as well. Craning his neck the whole way looking for Harvey he never saw him, making him get impatient again. The same angry nurse shoved him back down and he started demanding to know where he was. He couldn't figure out why they were hiding Harvey from him and he started panicking that they were lying to him and something was really wrong and so he became belligerent.

The nurse placed a firm hand on his chest and leaned close him.

"Relax Mr. Ross, they are getting him into a room. He has a nasty concussion and head wound and we are keeping him overnight to watch him. Now if you would stop thrashing we could get you checked out and you can go see him, but if you don't, I'm sedating your ass."

Mike realized she was serious and stopped fighting. Only muttering for them to hurry the fuck up. She glared at him for a second but relaxed her grip.

The MRI was slightly scary, he didn't think he was claustrophobic, but evidently he was.

As soon as it was done, he was leaping off the bed and trying to get out of the room to find Harvey. The nurse wheeled over a wheelchair and demanded he sit his ass down.

He glared at her, but relented. Knowing full well the gown left nothing to the imagination at the back since he had chosen to forgo underwear that morning due to the fact that he hadn't done his laundry; he figured sitting in a chair was the best way to keep some dignity.

The nurse was actually quite quick at getting him to Harvey's room, evidently she did have a heart and she pushed him right up beside Harvey and then left them alone.

Harvey turned his head and smiled at him but looked worried.

"Are you ok? What did the doctors say?"

Mike realized he hadn't even inquired about the results of his scan, but figured if it was something bad, that they wouldn't have let him leave the room.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me, how are you? You have a concussion they said, how bad is it?"

"Yes, it's a good concussion, but they have me pretty medicated, so I feel good right now."

Mike looked a little harder at Harvey's eyes and realized that his pupils were certainly larger than normal and laughed. Harvey was a little high and it was quite amusing. He knew that Harvey's loopy happiness would be short lived, that what had just happened would probably hit him like a ton of bricks, but seeing him smile at that moment was everything Mike needed.

The door opened to the room and Jessica poked her head in.

"Can I come in?"

Harvey smiled a little wildly and she laughed. "Gave you the good stuff did they?"

She handed Mike a bag and he was a little confused and looked inside and found some scrubs from the gift shop at the hospital.

"The police are keeping your clothes for evidence, this was the best I could find. Hopefully I got the right size." Mike must have still looked confused, so she continued. "Your free to go," she smiled, adding "though I doubt your leaving this room. They said your concussion is mild, you just have to take it easy for a few days."

Mike nodded in understanding and looked at Harvey.

Harvey's smile was gone, hearing the words police and evidence had reminded him and he was staring at the bag in Mike's hands sadly.

Mike grabbed his hand and squeezed it meaningfully.

"We're ok."

Harvey looked up at him, and nodded and smiled softly at him, the sadness remaining in his eyes.

Jessica took the hint and stepped out of the room to give them a moment.

Mike put the bag on the floor and sat on the bed next to Harvey, lying down and gathering him into his arms. Harvey curled into him and buried his face in Mike's chest.

"I love you." Mike whispered.

"I love you too," came the response from his chest and Harvey squeezed him tighter. "I don't know what I would have done if they had hurt you, I couldn't handle that, I just…" he broke off in the choked breath.

"Trust me, I was feeling the same thing, I want to kill that bastard for what he did to you." Mike leaned back a bit and put a hand on Harvey's chin, making him look up at his face.

"Why in hell would you offer yourself up like that? You promise me right now that you will never do anything like that again."

Harvey looked a little sheepish, but then defiant.

"I will do that again if it means protecting you."

Mike realized he was deadly serious, and couldn't help but understand. He would do the same for Harvey, in fact he almost had as well.

He leaned down and kissed him gently before pulling him back into his arms. They laid this way for a while, the rest of the world shut out, until the air conditioning came on in the room and the draft hit Mike's naked ass hanging off the side of the bed.

He jumped from the shock of the cold air and Harvey looked up at him questioningly and then laughed as Mike attempted to close the gown over his butt.

"You should probably get dressed, if Jessica comes back, I'm not sure you want the first thing she sees to be your bare ass."

Mike couldn't help but agree. He hated letting go of Harvey at that moment, but knew people would be coming.

Quickly dressing in the scrubs, he felt completely ridiculous in them, Jessica clearly assumed he was bigger than he actually was and he was swimming in them. They were also a very unflattering salmon shade, but he didn't really care. His ass was covered and Harvey was ok.

Another knock at the door came while Mike was tightening the strings on the pants.

"Come in." He assumed it was Jessica again, but instead Louis popped his head around the door.

"Louis, come in." Mike beckoned him.

Louis smiled a little and stepped inside.

He tentatively stepped close to Harvey's bed and gave him a little smile as well.

"Harvey, how are you?"

Harvey smiled warmly at him, "I'm fine, thanks to you."

"Louis, I don't even know what to say," Mike felt himself getting choked up and Louis just put up his hand to stop his blubbering.

"It's fine Mike, I owed you both one anyway remember?"

Both he and Harvey stared at him surprised.

Harvey was the first to speak "I'm not sure this is what we had in mind when we collected on that Louis, but thank you nonetheless." Then Harvey gave him a more meaningful look before saying "thank you" with more genuine force behind it.

Louis just laughed, "I just know how to pay people back in style, you should try that sometime Harvey."

Harvey rolled his eyes and laughed.

Then they were quiet for a few seconds.

Louis stared at his shoes, but then looked up at Harvey meaningfully.

"Listen, Harvey. I talked to Jessica on the way over here. She told me everything."

He paused and took a deep breath.

"I'm really sorry, about what happened to you tonight, and those months ago. You and I may not get along all the time, but I would never in a million years wish that on you."

Harvey gaped at him for a second, and sighed softly before saying 'thanks.'

"Your welcome."

Harvey started to look a little concerned at that point.

"How, I mean… what did she tell the police?"

"I don't think she's talked to them yet. They want to talk to you first." Louis seemed to get the drift suddenly. "Don't be angry with her for telling me, I somewhat forced her into it, I felt I had the right to know what was going on since I just shot three people and will likely be facing my own charges."

Harvey nodded, "I know of some good lawyers who will straighten it out for you," and then furrowed his brows and whispered "are they dead?"

"No, no," Louis blurted, "No, I just wounded them enough to stop them, I'm not a killer."

"No Louis, don't worry, I never thought that."

Mike could see that Harvey was having mixed feelings about the status of Seller and his goons.

Louis relaxed. "I hate to tell you this, but there are cops waiting in the hall to talk to you, are you ready for them?"

Panic crossed over Harvey's face, and Mike squeezed his hand.

"I don't know… I think I might need more time."

"I know this isn't my decision, or anything, but Harvey, I really think you need to tell them everything. Put those sicko's away for good."

"There is no evidence of what happened a few months ago, it would be my word against theirs… I don't…" Harvey stopped

"Again, it's not my decision, but we're all behind you."

Harvey gave him a grateful smile.

"Take care of yourself Harvey, if you need anything, let me know." He nodded and smiled quickly at Mike and then left.

Mike reached up and brushed his fingers through Harvey's hair.

"What do you want to do?"

Harvey took in a shaky breath. "I don't know, Mike, I really don't know, what should I do?"

Mike wasn't sure what to tell him. On the one hand, he agreed whole-heartedly with Louis, tell the police everything, but he understood Harvey's legal point of view, there was nothing proving it, except for maybe using this evenings events as proof that Seller and the other two men were capable of more. There would be evidence of what Seller had done to him in the office this time, Harvey had thrown up on the carpet, not to mention the fact that Mike was there as a witness, not to mention Louis, and they both had the head wounds as further proof. But there was no evidence of the previous assault, except for one thing. It hit Mike suddenly.

"Do you still have the clothes you wore home from the office that night?"

Harvey's eyebrow went up, but then recognition dawned on his face.

"Yes, I put them into a garbage bag and in my closet, to get rid of but I never did, I don't know why I didn't." Harvey looked down at the blanket.

"It's ok, they may be the evidence you need."

"I don't know if I can tell them Mike, I don't know if I can do a statement and…" Harvey swallowed hard, "testify."

Mike leaned forward and made Harvey look him in the eyes.

"I'm here with you, I will be with you through it all, you have my full and complete support. And I will support whatever decision you make, ok?"

He could see the tears shining in Harvey's dark brown eyes as he nodded.

There was a knock on the door and a friendly looking female officer stuck her head in.

"Mr. Specter, can I have a word?"

Harvey looked at Mike one more time, his decision clearly not yet made, and then nodded at the officer.

As she came in she turned to Mike, and he knew he would have to leave, since they would also need his statement and they couldn't give them while in the same room together. He squeezed Harvey's hand one more time and stepped out of the room. He was met in the hall by another officer; a man who also seemed friendly enough. He asked Mike if they could talk and Mike agreed. Figuring that he might as well do it at the same time as Harvey. He sat down in the room the officer had chosen and told him the truth about everything that had happened that night, hoping that Harvey would tell the rest of the story.

* * *

This was going to be hell. Harvey knew it, but at the same time, talking about it was in no way worse than it actually happening and he had to keep reminding himself of that.

The female detective was friendly and very warm. She was patient and gave him the time he needed to get started. What Harvey wasn't expecting was that he would start talking, and talking and without even realizing it, was telling her everything. It was like someone had ripped the lid off of a compressed air can, all of it was escaping at an incredibly fast rate.

The officer took everything down and asked him a few questions when he was done. Harvey felt completely drained, but told her where to find the workout clothes in his closet.

When she left, he lay limp on the bed, the full scale of that evening weighing on his chest. The visual of Mike staring at him panicked with a gun to his head choked him. The last thing he had ever wanted was for Mike to get hurt, protecting him had been top priority, even over himself. Mike had realized that that night, when he had offered himself up to Seller in exchange for Mike's safety. In the back of his mind, he knew that Mike would keep fighting and would never have been OK with the arrangement Harvey had come up with, but it was the only thing he thought he could do at the time to protect him.

The door opened and Mike came back in and without a word, climbed back up onto the bed, pulling Harvey close and kissing his forehead.

Harvey settled into the warm circle of his arms and closed his eyes.

"Are you ok?" Came the question from above his head.

"I told them everything," he murmured into Mike's shirt.

Mike's arms tightened around him. "Good. I'm proud of you."

Harvey just sighed, he knew this was only the beginning of this playing out, the case could go on for months and he wasn't completely sure he could handle it, but he had to try. He felt like he had to make it up to Mike for what had happened tonight, even though rationally he knew it wasn't his own fault.

Mike reached a hand up and flicked the light switch behind the bed. "Get some rest. I love you."

Harvey took a deep breath, taking in Mike's familiar scent and felt better for it. "I love you too."


	13. Chapter 13

Four Months Later

In the end, all three of Harvey's attackers were deported again, this time to face charges back in Russia for more serious crimes they had committed during their last stay there.

Harvey had been ok with this arrangement, knowing full well that the Russian justice system had a tendency to be a bit stricter than what they would likely have faced in New York. He mostly was just happy that they were many, many miles away from him; it made it easier not to think about them every day.

Mike was outraged. He wanted them to face punishment in New York before heading back to Russia. While he seemed to understand Harvey's feelings on the subject, he still held the opinion that they should be facing every bit of justice that they deserved.

Their relationship with Louis had entirely changed. Harvey had always viewed Louis as a ridiculous little man, whose ego didn't live up to his abilities. He had always found Louis's little trips to the firing range amusing; Louis shooting guns in a Freudian sort of way. His entire perspective was now altered. Whatever the reason Louis felt the need to know how to use a gun, and own one, he no longer cared, he was just happy that he did.

Jessica took a slightly different view, while she was glad that Louis had saved Mike and Harvey's lives, she still banished him from having guns in the office, fearing public safety.

This was no matter to either of them, Seller, Ivanov and Sidorov (the goons, Harvey hadn't known their names until they were arrested) were out of the country and rotting in Russian prisons.

Louis had never faced any charges; he was cleared because he had only fired in self-defense. Unbeknownst to Mike, as he was completely distracted by worry for Harvey, they had actually pointed their guns at Louis before he had fired. The security footage from the hallway meant that the case never went any further.

While Harvey's case never made it to trial, it caused one hell of a public stir. Harvey had to deal with a steady stream of well wishes, flowers and cards from clients and other legal colleagues for about a month, but many couldn't actually look him in the eye, knowing what had happened to him. They had all cleared away pretty quickly after doing the token things, leaving Harvey essentially alone as they were too uncomfortable with him to actually deal with him.

This too, didn't bother Harvey, he wasn't much for dealing with people anyway, he always preferred to deal with cases quickly and efficiently with as little human contact as possible, so the fact that they were now quite openly avoiding him made life easier for him.

But again, this too outraged Mike. He was indignant that they were holding this against Harvey, that somehow it was his fault. It only made him stick to Harvey more so, always on guard to prevent anyone from upsetting him or saying anything that he considered off-colour.

The media was an entirely different story. They had been brutal, blazing details of both attacks across the front page and making Harvey out to be the evil lawyer who had brought it on himself. This was the only thing that upset Harvey. He wasn't all that concerned about his public image per se, being a lawyer he was always aware of stigma, but he had a hard enough time not blaming himself to begin with, having confirmation of his shame on the newspaper on his desk was extremely difficult for him to cope with. Even more so when the reporters went into detail about what they had done to him.

With Jessica's help, Mike had launched several lawsuits against the major media players, forcing them to either write public apologies retracting their comments or paying dearly for their lascivious stories. This did little to help Harvey feel better, but it started a wave of public support behind him that was unexpected, which he had no idea how to deal with.

After Mike had essentially shut down a major tabloid, the furor began to die down and Harvey had started to relax. His relationship with Mike was even stronger than it was before, and the support they had within the firm was heart warming to say the least.

In the last few weeks Harvey had been doing a lot of thinking, he knew without a doubt that Mike was the only person he wanted to spend his life with, their emotional bond was stronger than anything he thought possible.

Harvey had never considered himself to be the marrying kind; he just wasn't sentimental that way. He always saw himself as being carefree, always part of the chase and never being locked down to any one person. But like his views on Louis, his entire perspective had changed.

He wasn't sure why, but he felt as though he wanted that final bond between him and Mike. He knew that Mike wasn't going anywhere, that he was happy with things as they were and would continue to be happy. He was also aware that in many ways, marriage was just a piece of paper, but he was realizing he wanted that piece of paper for him and Mike.

This thinking had culminated in him wandering into a jewellery store on the way back to the office a few days earlier. He had no idea what he was looking for, what kind of token would work in this situation that wouldn't make Mike uncomfortable. He decided on a simple gold band, Mike wasn't outlandish and he didn't want to overwhelm him.

The next issue was just how in hell he was going to propose. Since he had never really considered marriage before, he hadn't given proposing a second thought. And while he had a good feeling that Mike wouldn't turn him down, he was still as nervous as hell.

The ring burned a hole in his pocket for a few days before he decided it was about time to essentially shit or get off the pot, as crude a sentiment as that is.

They were working on a deposition at home; Mike was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch and legs stretched out in front of him. He had stripped down to just his suit pants and shirt as usual, as though the rest of his clothes were burning him, and was wiggling his toes in thought as he went over the case file.

Harvey found himself just quietly watching him, enjoying the little moves his eyebrows made as he read something interesting, or the way his nose wrinkled as something confused him before the little curl of his mouth as he figured it out.

Mike was oblivious to the staring for a while at first, but eventually he must have started to feel Harvey's eyes on him because he turned and looked at him questioningly.

"Something wrong?"

"No, just watching you read."

"You realize that's a bit creepy right? Do you watch me sleep?"

Harvey laughed, Mike was only half serious about the creepy comment; the laugh playing around his lips gave him away.

"No, I'm not that weird, I'm usually just trying to drown out your snoring."

Mike turned red "I don't snore!... Do I?"

"Relax, it's only a little loud, and it's cute."

Mike's cheeks deepened. He turned back to the file he was holding, trying to hide his embarrassment. Harvey felt a little bad for teasing him and slid down to the floor beside him, putting a hand on Mike's thigh and his chin on Mike's shoulder, forcing Mike to look at him out of the corner of his eye. It worked, and Mike started laughing.

"Stop it, just get to work, I would like to do some snoring tonight if you don't mind." He shot over his shoulder.

Harvey sat up and laughed, a little nervously, it was now or never.

"I wanted to talk to you about something… to ask you something."

Mike looked at him curiously, clearly suspecting nothing.

Harvey put his hand in his pocket to get the ring, surreptitiously drying his palm at the same time on his pants. He had no idea why he was so damn nervous about this; it was Mike after all. Mike who had essentially seen him at his worst and still loved him, Mike who had stuck by him through everything and taken care of him. He was being ridiculous and he knew it.

Harvey took a deep breath.

"I love you, you know that," he laughed softly, "I still remember that day I first met you, the crazy kid with the hot suitcase in hand somehow convincing me that hiring him was the best thing I could do."

Mike laughed softly at the memory as Harvey continued.

"You have been my everything this last year, I want you to know that. I can't even consider where I would be if you hadn't been there for me. I loved you before everything, but I love you more now because you are the most amazing person I know."

Mike smiled at him and then pulled his face in for a kiss. Harvey gave in to it for a few seconds, completely forgetting what he was doing, awash in Mike's mouth. He remembered finally and pulled away. Mike looked a little surprised.

"We'll continue with that in a second, just let me finish."

Mike gave him a half-smile, but nodded.

Harvey held up the ring in front of him, "marry me."

Mike's jaw dropped opened and his eyes widened in shock, he let out a short breath in a gasp of surprise.

Harvey started to worry a little; he seemed to be taking some time answering, longer than was comfortable for Harvey's delicate sensitivities.

Then Mike looked him straight in the eye, and whispered "yes".

Harvey felt the emotion welling inside of him and within seconds Mike's lips were on his with such force that it knocked them backwards onto the carpet. Harvey couldn't help but laugh into his mouth. He barely got the ring onto Mike's finger before Mike was ripping his clothes off, files and papers scattering everywhere.

Harvey knew then that this was exactly how this moment was meant to go, even if he didn't know it before. Pulling Mike back for a second to breath he smiled at him, "I love you".

Mike grinned back and said "I love you too."

Harvey knew that this was it; this was how things were supposed to be.

Fin


End file.
